Penderwick oneshot dump
by Lady Kick Your Butt
Summary: Just a couple thousand ideas I've had, but can't follow with full length fanfics. Some hundred's of AU's, mostly Skyeffrey pieces. Chapter Fourteen: In which Jeffrey is a damsel in distress, and as his next door neighbor Skye finds it her responsibility to come to his rescue.
1. Chapter 1

Jeffrey clutched his stomach, barely restraining himself from letting out a groan. He was feverish he knew, or at least he thought he was. Maybe he wasn't. Really he was in such a groggy state he couldn't tell. His mouth was dry and tasted acidic, and his throat felt constantly on the verge of seizing and heaving up all the contents in stomach. He clutched fiercely at the strap of his backpack, his teeth gritted. He forced his eyes to focus, and he did his best to shove down even the thought of puking.

The train, it came down the line with a thundering impressive entrance. The whole platform vibrated and shook under the rumble of its engine and it's endless line of swaying cars. In Jeffrey's I'll state it felt like the whole world was swinging back and forth, and he was a little thrown off. Was double vision how he normally saw things? He really couldn't remember. Suddenly he was on board the train and sitting down, but he couldn't remember how he got on there either. All he could notice was how painfully shrill the squeal of the train's wheels setting in motion were, or how the train's horn bellowed out with sonorous low boom that he could feel rattle through his chest.

Jeffrey could feel himself slipping off into a comatose-like sleep. He shook himself twice, but that upset his stomach more, and so when the third bout of zoning off engulfed him, Jeffrey succumbed to the pressure and slumped off.

...

Skye wrinkled her nose thoughtfully as she ran her eyes over her notes again. That last calculation didn't make sense, which meant the entire beginning and middle was wrong, or the professor hadn't finished it correctly. She was inclined more towards the latter, since she had written the first part of it.

Skye was so engrossed, that the feeling of the train coming to a halt and the sound of its destination blaring through the speakers, startled her. She quickly shoved her notebook and pen in her backpack, and made to leave her car. She paused at the sight of the young man with rumpled brown hair still sleeping in his seat. This was the train's final stop; so, he had to get up now.

Skye hesitated. The conductor would take care of him, she told herself. Another part of her head-it sounded a lot like her sister, Rosalind- told her it was her responsibility towards another human to wake him up. Skye grumbled to herself, but went over to the boy and shook him gently.

"Hey, Hey. You might want to wake up."

The boy opened a pair of red-rimmed eyes, and stared up at her in bleary confusion. He looked terrible, and Skye was just wondering to herself if the poor guy was sick when he promptly keeled over and threw up on her shoes.

Yup, definitely sick then.

...

"You, Stranger, owe me a huge one." The strange blonde girl grumbled, slinging Jeffrey's backpack over her own shoulder and grabbing his arm as he almost toppled over, "C'mon. Let's get you home, where do you live?"

"Mmghblugdv." Jeffrey attempted.

"I swear, you should consider wearing a 'if lost return to:' tag. Let's go, give up your address."

"Roxbury." He said a little more clearly, grimacing at how disgusting his mouth tasted, "Akron street. You don't need to help, I can get there."

"No offense, but you're walking around like a zombie, and with half the grace of one too. Also you slept through your train stop, you got money for a taxi?"

Groggily, he dug around trying to find his wallet. Finally finding it in his back pocket he pulled it out and opened it. And stared at, squinting fiercely. For two minutes. The stranger sighed and took the wallet from him.

"Jeffrey Tifton, 'ey?" She read his license and then counted his money, and double-taked, "Why the heck do you have two hundred in cash? The bank-robbing business that good?"

"I threw up on your shoes."

"And you should be grateful that they're freakin' old, and that I'm used to such treatment." With that ambiguous statement, the girl stuck two fingers in her mouth, gave a shrill, sharp, peircing, whistle, and waved a taxi over.

"How'd you do that? That was amazing. Really loud and painful, but amazing." Jeffrey clutched his head.

"I learned it from my sister's boyfriend's older brother." She ushered him into the taxi, "C'mon let's go."

"Roxbury, Akron street." She told the cabbie.

"Why are you doing this?" Jeffrey was leaning over holding his head, "This seems a little above common human courtesy."

"No idea." The girl was scanning her notes again, " I guess I just feel sorry for you, and my sisters would kill me if I left someone in a state half as bad your's."

"I feel like I'm gonna puke."

"Hey, not in the taxi!" The cabbie called back.

The blonde dumped everything out of Jeffrey's backpack and handed it to him.

"There you go. I'd recommend trying to avoid using it." She told him, "Relax, focus on something you like. Like music."

"I'd like to avoid talking, so no vomit comes out." Jeffrey gritted his teeth.

"Good by me." The girl reached into her bag, and then tossed Jeffrey a stick of gum, "That'll take out the gross taste."

Jeffrey took it and stuck it in his mouth, and chewed slowly. He peered at his companion as if completely seeing her for the first time. She was really pretty, easily the prettiest girl he had ever seen, and she looked like she didn't care a bit that she was. Her brow was in a perpetual state of creased thought, or maybe that was just her frowning at her notepad. She looked intriguing.

"How'd you know I like music?"

"Jew's harp, harmonica, recorder, ten different CDs, one fat book on modern jazz, one pencil with a treble clef shaped eraser, and a backpack with the Beatles on it." She threw a thumb gesture at the contents of his backpack that she had strewn on the seat between them, "No idea why I came to that conclusion."

Jeffrey snorted, and promptly regretted it as his stomach gave a twist.

"So...what's a music enthusiast such as yourself doing, wandering around Boston with a doozy case of the flu?" She asked absently, erasing something, "Aren't you musicians supposed to have frail constitutions or something?"

"Class? I didn't want to miss it." Jeffrey said wincing.

"Right, silly me. Of course school is worth dying for."

"Well, when you put it that way I guess I sound dumb." Jeffrey massaged his temples, "I hate to ask for anything else, but you don't have water by any chance?"

"Knock yourself out." She tossed him a water bottle, only filled halfway with water, "Don't worry, my mouth didn't touch it. I just had to use it to put out a Chemistry project."

"You teach? You look young." Jeffrey took a sip of the water.

She snorted.

"Me teach Chemistry? God no. Me and Chemistry have a very ironic relationship when you consider its name."

"You take Chem, then?"

"No. Never. There was just a fiasco in the hall at my college involving some kid who thought there was no possible point to using the lab. Normal stuff when you go to a school for geniuses and geeks."

"There's a difference between those two?"

"One memorizes facts, the other knows those facts and applies them to everything, then uses those applications to discover new things."

"Sounds like music."

"Sure." The blonde snorted.

"I'm serious. I use chords, notes, music theory, the roots of music, and then I blend them all to discover new sounds." Jeffrey groaned as the taxi took a sharp turn.

The girl was frowning thoughtfully.

"Huh."

"When you think about it everything's connected...and." Jeffrey stopped queasily, and hurriedly rolled down his window.

The girl smiled sympathetically, and Jeffrey noticed how it complimented her bright blue eyes.

"You might want to save the Buddha talk for when you can speak without gagging."

Jeffrey grunted in confirmation, too sick to nod or say a word. He sat there and watched the dry-witted girl studiously write. He zoned out staring at her without realizing it.

"If you take a picture it'd last longer." She remarked without looking up.

"What?" Jeffrey asked dully.

"You're staring." The girl told him.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to. It's just when I close my eyes I feel sick. And when I look out the window everything's rushing past and I feel sick." Jeffrey apologized, "I was just trying to focusing on one thing. I'll look at something else."

"Good idea." She said dismissively.

Jeffrey tried to look anywhere but at the blonde girl with amazingly blue eyes, but that didn't work. She was way too fascinating.

"What's your name?" he heard himself ask dimly.

"Skye." She said abruptly, "Now, shush."

"Just like your eyes." Jeffrey said with a flash of brilliant realization. Skye looked at him in amusement.

"Dude, you're freakin' delirious, but, yes, just like my eyes. Blue eyes, blue sky."

"That's poetry." Jeffrey mumbled, feeling his eyes droop.

"Sure." He heard Skye snort as he dropped off. He wasn't sure if the next part was a piece of a dream, but he felt like he heard himself mutter, "You're really beautiful."

Skye felt touched by the pathetic words that fell from the ill boy's mouth. He was slouched over against his side of the car, hair plastered to his sweaty forehead, and his mouth hanging open. His whole face was contorted into one similar to a sad puppy. He reminded Skye of a little five year old. He was kind of adorable in a helpless way. Skye shook her head at that thought, and returned back to her notebook with a little smile. She didn't look up until the taxi came to an abrupt screeching halt, in the tradition of all cabs.

"Akron Street." Blared the driver, "Pay the fare, Sistah."

Skye woke the slumbering invalid and dragged him and his effects out of the dingy yellow vehicle. Carefully, she counted out the exact amount for the fare from Jeffrey's wallet, and set the cabbie off with a wave.

"Okay, Tifton." She straightened him as he almost toppled over, "Which of these beauts is your's"

"That one. No wait..." Jeffrey squinted, "It's the one right next to that one that looks exactly the same. Wait, did it just...move?"

Skye observed the white apartment complex, in which general direction Jeffrey was gesturing to. She tugged him along.

"You're seeing double, c'mon what's your apartment number?"

"MusicRawks." Jeffrey mumbled blearily, trying to wake up completely, "With a 'w'."

"Very helpful." Skye said sarcastically, "Where's your key?"

"I was going to ask you that?" Jeffrey blinked at her in confusion.

Skye groaned and pinched her nose.

"You know what? I'll just ring the doorbell."

"Great idea!" Jeffrey said queasily. He was leaning against the porch rail and giving Skye a frail thumbs up.

"I'm delighted you approve." Skye jabbed the doorbell agitatedly.

"Yes?" A grizzled old lady with a mustache answered the door.

"I was going to ding dong ditch and leave this helpless infant on your doorstep, but I thought it would be rude. He doesn't belong to you, does he?"

"Jeffrey?" The old woman looked at the boy Skye was jabbing her thumb towards.

"What's the matter with you?"

Jeffrey looked directly in the woman's eyes...and then turned and puked over the side of the porch.

"Just the flu. He'll be fine." Skye waved dismissively, "Can you take him off my hands?"

"I'll go get his roommate Jeremy, and he'll take care of the poor boy." The woman shut the door in Skye's face.

"A very nice...woman?"

"Yeah, don't let the lip hair fool you. I honestly can't look at her face without feeling sick." Jeffrey retched again. Skye stepped farther away.

"Good idea, I doubt she cared for those flowers anyway."

"Sarcasm?! From you?!" Jeffrey mumbled sarcastically, "Who would have believed it?"

"Wow! I'm really feeling the gratitude for hauling your sick butt all the way back here."

"Great. I'm really really glad you do." Jeffrey flashed his best fake smile, which was a grimace as his stomach lurched.

"Oh, c'mon. I have nothing left to puke up." He groaned and leaned over the rail.

"Great and not at all disgusting to know." Skye was busy looking at a cell phone, when Jeffrey looked back at her.

"Hey! My phone has that exact same music note case!" He exclaimed.

"Really? What a coincidence! Because this is your phone." Skye said disinterestedly.

"What? How'd you unlock it?" Jeffrey took a step towards her so he could snatch it away, but ended up only shakily grabbing the rail again for support.

"MusicRawks? I hear it's your apartment number too." Skye told him without looking up.

"That's not my apartment number." Jeffrey was confused.

"No, but that's what you think your apartment number is when you're only half-awake. Seriously, dude, you're not completely there when you're just woken up; though, that could be your flu too."

"No, that's just normal. Can I have my phone back, please?"

"Relax, I'm just putting my number in it. You should be fine waiting here, and I've really got to get going. I have a thing. Text me that you made it out alright." Skye slapped his phone into his hand, "Have a good one. Well as good a one as you can fighting that flu."

With that she sauntered down the stairs and started off.

"Hey, wait. I didn't thank you!"

"You're welcome!" She waved, walking backwards.

"But what if I don't see you again?"

Skye halted on the sidewalk in front of the apartment building, and cocked a surprised eyebrow while she peered up at Jeffrey.

"I only just met you today."

"Right. And I know I probably look crazy-"

"Delirious." Skye agreed.

"-but um...I think you're terrific. A little sarcastic perhaps..."

Skye raised both eyebrows in surprise and pointed to herself in disbelief.

"Me? Sarcastic?"

"Okay, a lot sarcastic." Jeffrey was able to muster a grin, "I-I just, you seem really cool, and I'd like to hang sometime. Maybe, you know, when I'm not feeling the urge to vomit all over your feet. I'm still really sorry about that. Maybe I could pay you back with coffee or something?"

Skye mulled over his proposition for a little bit, and then shrugged.

"Well, you do have my number. Who knows? Crazier things have happened."

Jeffrey looked hopeful.

"So I'll text you then? Maybe work it out?"

"Sure." Skye shrugged and then began to back up again, "Now, I really have to get going, there's a thing...I really gotta run. See you 'round. Maybe."

"See you." Jeffrey gave a small wave, clutching the rail carefully.

Jeffrey watched her disappear off of his street, her blonde ponytail bobbing with every step as she jogged away.

He still felt sicker than sick, but he couldn't help himself from smiling a little and looking down at the new contact number in his phone.

"Skye Penderwick." He read out loud, and then read the last name again, liking the way it rolled off his tongue, "Penderwick."

Maybe the flu wasn't all that bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Jeffrey wanted to cover his ears, the noise level was too loud, and it felt like his ears were bleeding. Someone had pumped up the volume way too high, and there was a horrible sounding song with way too much auto tune blaring from the speakers. As if that wasn't bad, everyone there felt obliged to scream their conversations as best as they could over the music. In all his interest in finding out what his first college party would be like, Jeffrey hadn't expected it to be that...loud. He needed to get away from the row for at least a few minutes.

"Hey! Excuse me?" He tapped the hostess' shoulder. She turned and cupped an ear, "Can you tell me where the bathroom is?"

It took four tries, both shouting back and forth in misunderstanding before Jeffrey completely got the girl's directions. Ducking, through a group of students dancing terribly out of sync with the music, Jeffrey reached the door at the end of the hall, but when he opened it he didn't find a bathroom, but instead stairs. He shrugged and closed the door behind him. The bathroom was probably at the top of the stairs.

The bathroom wasn't at the top of the stairs. It was the apartment's roof. Jeffrey stood there blinking in surprise at the Boston city-scape. He began to suspect that there had been serious miscommunications between him and the hostess.

"Oh thank the gods!" A voice cried out in relief.

Jeffrey turned his head just in time to catch sight of a small brunette tackle him with a hug. He stood there awkwardly, trying his best to logically gather his bearings.

"Do...I know you?" He asked slowly, his arms pinned at his sides.

"The door! You opened it! I've been locked up here for hours!" The girl pulled back, and Jeffrey could finally make out her features. She was kind of cute, with brown curly hair and deep brown eyes and a round face. He had definitely never seen her before in his life.

"I'm Jane." The girl seemed to collect herself a bit and began to chatter quickly, "Sorry about the hug, it's just I got kind of lonely and panicky up here, and when you opened the door...well let's say I'm eternally gratified toward you. What's your name?"

"...Jeffrey." Jeffrey still felt very lost.

"Thank you so much, Jeffrey!" Jane beamed and patted him on the shoulder as she walked passed him. She trotted down the stairs.

"Time to shut this party down!" She said with confidence as she grabbed the doorknob and turned it. Or tried to. Desparately, Jane jiggled the doorknob, but it was of no use. It was locked.

"Noooooooo!" Jane pounded the door with her fists.

Jeffrey's eyes widened when he realized what had happened. He rushed down the stairs and tried the door for himself.

"I didn't think it'd lock behind me!" He kicked the door.

Jane just leaned her forehead against the door miserably.

"Skye's going to murder me. First, I agree to letting her roommate throw a party, next thing I know it's getting out of hand and that sneaky vixen is slyly trapping me on the roof!"

Jeffrey patted her arm trying to comfort her awkwardly.

"How'd you get stuck here?" Jane turned her eyes on him sociably.

"I was looking for the bathroom, just to get away from all that ruckus." Jeffrey said ruefully, "I think I made a wrong turn."

"Well you got about as far away from the ruckus as you possibly could without leaving the city." Jane told him companionably, "Wanna go on the roof? It's nicer up there then this dark stairwell."

"Might as well." Jeffrey smiled resignedly.

They propped the roof's door open with a brick, and then stood there wordlessly eyeing each other.

"Hey! Do you have a phone?" Jane's eyes lit up hopefully.

"Right!" Jeffrey dug in his pocket excitedly and pulled his phone out, "I'll just call my friend downstairs and he can let us out!"

"Oh thank the gods!"

Jeffrey wrinkled his forehead at the strange expression, but didn't bother to ask as he called his friend, and waited, phone at his ear. He heard his friend's phone ring at the other end. It kept ringing until finally, "Hi, this is Greg!"

"Oh, Greg, good. You picked up." Jeffrey sighed in relief.

"Sorry, I'm not available at the moment, but you know the drill. Leave a message."

"He's not picking up." Jeffrey groaned, "He probably can't hear his phone over all that noise."

Jane's face dropped. She winced peculiarly, sighed dismally, and then gathered her shoulders resolutely.

"Can I use your phone then? I didn't want it to come to this, but well...there's no other choice. I've got to call Skye."

She said the last sentence as if it was some dramatic climatical reveal, and that Jeffrey should be thrilled with shock.

"Who's Skye?" He asked blankly.

"Who is Skye? That is an interesting question." Jane looked off distantly, "She's an enigma, a force to be reckoned with, a being that transcends all possible reality. And when you think about it, what are we all? Just shadowy mortals? I believe we all transcend-"

Jane stopped herself as she registered the peculiar look Jeffrey was giving her.

"She's my terrifying sister, and roommate to that beastly woman down there. She'll stop the party in a hurry."

"Oh, okay. Here you go." Jeffrey handed Jane the phone.

"Thanks." Jane typed in a number, and then held the phone to her ear.

Nobody answered.

"I might have to call her quite a few times, since she doesn't know this number. Don't worry, she'll answer eventually, even if it's only to snap because she thinks it's a prank caller."

"As long as it gets us out of here." Jeffrey motioned, "Be my guest."

So Jane called. And called. And called. And called. Until, finally, on the sixth call, her sister picked up.

"Um...is your refrigerator running?" Jeffrey heard Jane ask weakly.

Then, from Jeffrey's point of view, Jane's phone call went something like this.

"Yeah, it's me."

"It's Jeffrey's phone."

"He's the guy stuck on the roof with me."

"Your foul and loathsome roommate locked me up here."

"Oh, he was just looking for the bathroom and got lost or something."

"...because she's throwing a really loud party." Jane cringed after that announcement and held the phone away from her ear. Jeffrey could hear the person on the other end throwing a fit.

"I leave you there for an hour!" He heard the other person exclaim before Jane put the phone back to her ear.

"I know. I know." Jane said morosely, "I'm sorry. Will you please come get us off the roof?"

There was a pause, and then Jane winced.

"All right I'll tell him. Thanks, Skye, I'm really sor-"

Apparantly the other person hung up on her, because Jane sighed and handed Jeffrey back his phone.

"Um..just a warning from Skye, she said to tell you if you even touch me, she'll beat you death."

Jeffrey gingerly took his phone, making sure not to make contact with Jane's fingers. After hearing her sister's voice on the other end, he didn't want to risk it.

"She'll be here in about fifteen minutes." Jane said after a long pause, "She's pretty angry. And nothing's more scary than an angry Skye. Her roommate will be a cowering dog under her wrath."

Jeffrey only nodded, not knowing what to say to that. He looked around the roof, just to occupy himself.

"Oh, hey! A telescope." Jeffrey was about to walk over to the object standing off to the side.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Jane warned, "That's Skye's, and if you moved it even a centimeter out of place, she'd have you lying six feet under within seconds."

Jeffrey pulled back swiftly and gulped.

"Alright. I won't touch it."

"I'm sorry you had to get stuck like this." Jane apologized meekly after a long moment.

"It's fine." Jeffrey reached out to pat her shoulder, but then thought better of it when he remembered her sister's warning, "Honestly, I like it better up here than down there."

"You're kind of like Skye. She can't stand loud noises either or big parties." Jane smiled wryly at him.

"And you can?" Jeffrey asked, sitting across from her cross legged.

"It depends." Jane hesitated, "But...yeah, I kind of like the excitement and all that energy and enthusiasm just pulsing through the room. I like to socialize and talk with people. It's exciting to get to know new people, and learn their stories."

"Well...we are going to be stuck up here for a little while." Jeffrey shrugged, and leaned back on his hands, "And I'm a new person..."

"I've got an idea!" Jane said enthusiastically, "Want to play two truths and a lie? I've never played before, mostly because everyone I know, I know too well to play with. Plus, this way we can get to know each other better."

"Sure." Jeffrey said agreeably, "You first."

"Okay, just a sec." Jane furrowed her forehead, and thought for a moment, "Let's see.. I'm going to be an author, I have five sisters, and I've scored a winning goal in soccer roughly over thirteen times."

"I'm going to say...the soccer one?" Jeffrey guessed.

"That is..." Jane paused dramatically, "Wrong! I only have four sisters and one brother."

"Wow! The soccer thing's real? That's pretty impressive."

"Thank you very much." Jane pantomimed a curtsy, "Your turn."

"Okay.. I'm an only child, I can play at least six different instruments, and I used to take ballet."

"I'm going to say the ballet one." Jane said confidently, "No offense, but you don't look that graceful."

"Ouch!" Jeffrey clutched his chest in pretend pain, "You're right, I broke my leg the day before my first class; though, I did end up taking ballroom dancing a few years later."

"Six different instruments and knowing how to waltz? That's pretty impressive." Jane told him.

"Thank you." Jeffrey gave a mock bow, "Your turn."

...

"No! You're not serious!" Jeffrey laughed hysterically.

"I'm serious! His brothers had dared him to see how many girls he could kiss." Jane laughed along.

"That's awful!"

"You think that's awful? You should have seen Skye!"

There was a sound of the door below opening.

"Jane!" Someone called, "I'm back. Get down here right now."

"Skye!" Jane brightened, and then deflated, "Right. Skye."

She and Jeffrey tramped down the stairs humbly, and Jeffrey got his first look at the infamous Skye. She really wasn't at all what he had been expecting. From Jane's terrible discription, he had imagined some large biker woman with a mohawk and tattoos and large muscles. She wasn't even wearing a leather jacket or brass knuckles. She was wearing a collared uniform shirt from the Boston Science museum with her sleeves rolled up, she had a walkie talkie on her belt, a name tag that read, 'Sky', and a pair of black pants.

And she was beautiful. She oozed stubborn authority, from the tip of her blonde ponytail to the soles of her black sneakers. She stood straight and kept her head up confidently, and when she turned a pair of piercing blue eyes on Jeffrey to examine him suspiciously, he found himself feeling very self-conscious and overpowered.

"H-hi." He said flustered, and unable to take his eyes off of her, "Uh...I-uh."

Jane looked back and forth between him and Skye, and then bit back a large grin.

"Skye, this is Jeffrey." Jane tried brightly.

Skye gave Jane a stern look and was about to open her mouth when a red solo cup flew at her. She ducked the cup, and turned eyes furious.

"Jane, go in my room now, and hurry up." Skye pointed. Jane slunk off, waving at Jeffrey regretfully.

As soon as Skye saw her sister close her bedroom door, she sprung into action. First, she marched over to the still pounding boombox and stabbed the off button. Jeffrey was glad to uncover his ears as the music turned off. Nobody else seemed to notice that music had stopped as they continued to shout each other. They had probably all gone partially deaf thanks to the din.

Partially deaf or not, they all flinched and heard Skye when she shouted.

"ALL RIGHT! THIS PARTY IS OVER!"

All eyes were on the imposing blonde girl, including the terrified ones of her roommate. In that moment, Jeffrey knew that this girl was even more frightening than the biker punk he had pictured. Like a thousand times more.

"You! In the stupid backwards baseball cap!" Skye pointed accusingly at one of the boys, "You collect all these cups and throw them away."

"Yes, Ma'am." The boy gulped and hurried to do as told.

"You! Put your shirt back on!" Skye hissed at another boy, "And then dump any alcohol in this apartment down the sink."

"No way!" He protested, "I spent like a hundred bucks on these beers."

Skye stepped towards him menacingly, until she was two feet away.

"Would you like to pay another hundred towards your dental bill?" She asked threateningly.

"I'll dump the alcohol." The boy cowered and quickly pulled on his shirt.

Soon, the whole apartment was busily cleaning up the place, even Jeffrey. He was too scared to point out that he really hadn't attended the party since he had been stuck on the roof, and he didn't want to be the only person there just standing around watching. At least he got to see his sloppy friend, Greg, pay meticulous care in washing all the windows. All in all, this was nothing like the college party he had been expecting.

"Hey."

Jeffrey jumped and dropped the broom he had been sweeping up chip crumbs with, as Jane's sister finally addressed him.

Skye caught the broom, and then shoved it into another boy's hands. He began to sweep diligently.

"Jane said that you were trying to escape this party, and that you let her borrow your phone."

"Yeah." Jeffrey laughed nervously, and tried to find a way to occupy his hands now that the broom wasn't in them. He settled on putting them in his pockets.

"I didn't realize it was going to be this loud, or that there'd be beer. It was my first party."

"What'd you think they do at college parties?" Skye snorted at his innocence, "Serve up entrées and play Scrabble?"

"No, but now that you mention it, that sounds like an awesome party." Jeffrey grinned.

Skye laughed.

"All right, you're off the hook, -" She tried to remember what Jane had told her his name was.

"Jeffrey." He said, "You really should fix those doors so you can open them from the other side."

"Nobody's supposed to go up there besides me." Skye told him, "I'm the only one with a key, and the roof's where I go to star gaze or do homework."

"I saw the telescope." Jeffrey confirmed

"You didn't touch it did you?" Skye's face darkened.

"No, Sir." Jeffrey assured her waving his hands, "I-I mean Ma'am. No, Ma'am. I didn't. Touch it."

Skye relaxed and chuckled.

"Well, I suppose it's thanks to you that this party didn't get even worse." She said, cocking her head thoughtfully, "I thank you for that. If I had come home to everything upside down and broken, I would have been furious."

Jeffrey's eyes widened at the thought that the girl in front of him could have been even more mad than she had been.

"Yeah, well I'm sorry I ever came in the first place." Jeffrey said, and then hurried to correct himself, "I mean I'm not sorry that I met you."

Skye raised an eyebrow, and Jeffrey hurried on.

"Or-or-or Jane, or that I helped get the party shut down." He corrected, "I mean, I wouldn't have come if I had known that there was like alcohol here, or that you didn't approve of it."

There was a snicker from from the kitchen doorway, and they both looked over to see Jane laughing behind a hand.

"Oh, don't get me started on you." Skye crossed her arms, "You, young lady, are in big trouble."

"What are you going to do to me?" Jane cowered.

Skye gave her a cruel smile.

"Oh no." Jane grew horrified, "Oh, no no no no. Please, don't tell Rosy!"

Jane fell to her knees and raised her hands in a miserable plea.

"Please, Skye! I beg of you!"

""I'm not going to tell, Rosalind." Skye said calmly.

"You're...not?" Jane stopped her begging, and looked up hopefully.

"I'm going to tell daddy."

Jane sighed and got up.

"That's worse." She said looking downcast, "But you're right I suppose. Are we still on for breakfast at that place tomorrow?"

"I suppose. As one last treat for you before you're grounded into eternity." Skye looked at her watch, "I've got to get all of these idiots out of this apartment, yell at my roommate, and somehow get back to work in fifteen minutes before my break is over. Aaand the bus already left."

"Save your scolding for Dorothy for when you get back, it'll make her more tense and sorry by the time you actually give it to her. These hooligans are longing to just run out of here, and Jeffrey will give you lift." Jane suggested.

"I-I will?" Jeffrey was taken aback.

Jane gave him a pointed look and a nod towards her sister who had jumped back as the guy with the broom almost hit her with his desparate broad sweeps. Jeffrey caught on, and his face lit up.

"I mean yeah, I will." Jeffrey coughed and tried to shrug in a nonchalant manner. He looked like he was having a body spasm, and Jane sent along another look and an embarrassed shake of the head.

"I can't do that." Skye told him, "You probably want to get back to your-"

"Nah, I insist." Jeffrey cut her off, "It's no trouble at all, and you've had a crappy time taking care of this big hassle. It's the least I can do, after coming to your apartment and chipping in on the mess."

"You were stuck up on the roof the whole time." Skye reminded.

"Same difference." Jeffrey waved, "C'mon, you don't want to be late."

He had Skye there, he could tell.

"Alright. Thanks so much. It's really helpful of you." She told him, as she kicked the broom-sweeper out, "Go to bed, Jane."

"I will." Jane said cheerfully, and winking at Jeffrey as soon as her sister's back was turned, "Bye, Jeffrey!"

"Bye!" He gave her a thankful look and a smile, "I had fun being stuck with you."

Jane watched as all the party-goers fled as soon as Skye ordered them to. They were stumbling over each other in their haste to leave. She watched from the window as Jeffrey and Skye got in his car out on the street, talking and laughing all the while.

"Dang, I'm good." Jane patted herself on the back.

* * *

 **This one shot just popped into my head, and though I didn't give it as much credit as I would have liked, I do like the idea of Jane trying to ship Skye and Jeffrey together, and Jeffrey just being completely oblivious.**

 **Anyway, I've decided to come up with the tradition of letting you reviewers send in prompt suggestions for every third one-shot. That's right, the next update could be one of your ideas if you feel so inclined. I thought it could be a fun way to practice my writing and creative-thinking process. Any thing's allowed, it can be an movie AU, or a book or tv show AU, it could be just a one-shot that takes point during a part in one of the books, it could be anything Penderwick related. I hope to hear anything from you guys.**

 **Celestialite: Nonsense, I'm excited that you read in this in the first place. I'm glad you liked it.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: I couldn't stop grinning from that review, and sorry that I didn't post a new one all that soon, but I hope you enjoy this one.**

 **To my GM: Yes, I can't stand not writing something adorable and dorky, it's my M.O, alright. I'm happy to have you along for these one shots too.**

 **Nijibrush: I agree. It is amazing how these two can fit together in nearly any situation. It's almost as if they were meant for each other, lol. I love one shots to, I'm pretty sure they're my kryptonite, because I couldn't resist writing them. Thank you so much for your review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**The original idea for this story is credited to Nijibrush who sent me an awesome prompt. Check out her works if you haven't already. She's fabulous.**

"So what'd you think?" Jane was bouncing up and down in her excitement.

"Well, I didn't realize that there were so many insane people in this world, or that they were all fans of your book." Skye grunted as she shoved another box of books in the back seat of her car.

"C'mon, Skye!" Jane clasped her hands together and looked up at her older sister with her best puppy eyes.

Skye laughed.

"I'm kidding. I'm really proud of you. Your book is very good, and though your fans are slightly on the crazy side, I have to say that they at least had the common sense to read it."

"Yes!" Jane squealed and hugged Skye triumphantly, "Can you believe it?! They loved my book!"

"Next time there's one of these book-signings though, do you think you can maybe cut down the time you chatter with each fan? That one girl talked with you for half an hour, and it held up the line of all those shrieking fan girls. I thought book-lovers were supposed to be quiet."

"I couldn't help myself. I just got so excited, because she had so many good questions and points." Jane explained, "It's like-like if someone asked you a math question, Skye. You'd talk for hours."

"Would not." Skye said indignantly, "I'd give them a straightforward and logical explanation and that would be the end of that."

She shoved another box into the car.

"Sure, Skye." Jane smiled knowingly, "Can you finish loading up the car? I need to use the restroom before we go."

"Yeah, yeah, I've got it." Skye waved dismissively,"Hurry up though, or I might decide to whale on that guy for making us bring our own table. I mean seriously!? You were bringing business to his bookstore!"

"Not worth it, Skye." Jane called back, all ready going through the bookstore's door. Skye let out a grumble, and began strapping the fold-up table onto the roof of the car. She had just finished lashing the last strap and had picked up the huge sign that read, "Jane Penderwick's book signing", when she got struck full force by a hurricane. That was the best that non-author Skye could do to describe what happened next.

"Ms. Penderwick!"

"What?" Skye turned disinterestedly. She was busy thinking about what she should get for lunch.

"Oh thank God! I caught you." An overly-enthusiastic young man grabbed her hand and pumped it up and down excitedly. He froze mid-shake though, still grasping her hand as he stared -dumb-founded- at her face. He looked almost paralyzed.

Skye yanked her hand out of his, not a little suspicious as to his mental state.

"Sorry. Sorry." The disheveled brunette apologized, "Sorry, it was just I thought I was going to miss you. My band practice ran really late, and-"

"Do I know you?" Skye looked the stranger up and down in bewilderment.

"No, No, No. Sorry." He shook his head and held up a book, "It's just, I've got to be your biggest fan."

It was Jane's book. Skye looked up at the sign she was holding, and everything clicked into place. Oh, right. That made much more sense.

"You've made a mi-"

"I can't believe this!" Now he looked like he was about to go into hysterics, "Your book changed my life! And now I get to meet you?! It's-it's just a huge honor."

"Yeah, see about that-"

"Your character, Professor Yonder, is my favorite. She's like a genius! And I know almost everyone else likes your main character Sabrina Starr the most, but Yonder really spoke to me more."

"Wow. That's extremely intriguing, but seriously-"

"Although, I'm still a bit skeptical as to some of her mathematical equations. There was one spot where they didn't make sense at all in the book."

"Yeah, great-" Then, Skye finally grasped what he had just said, "Wait? What? Not make sense?! I wrote those equations myself! I checked and double-checked, there's no inaccuracies, Mr.-"

"Jeffrey." The brunette supplied as he opened his book, "No, seriously. It's right here on page 126. See? 'Sabrina Star smiled at her nerdy companion, "Blue?" She asked, "Are you sure your formula works?"'-"

"What kind of name is 'Blue'?" Skye wrinkled her nose and snatched the book from the biggest fangirl she had ever met. She was way too offended by his off-handed insult to even care about correcting his mistake now. Or even notice how he was gazing at her with star-struck eyes.

"You came up with the name." Jeffrey gave her a puzzled look. Skye ignored him, lips moving as she read the passage silently.

"It makes perfect sense. What are you talking about?" She was relieved, "Look I'll prove it. You got a pen?"

"I'm a composer, I always have a pen."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Skye snatched the sparkly pen from his hand, and turning the poster board sign over, she began to sketch a graph.

"Look, she placed the names of all those suspects along the vertical line. See?"

Jeffrey nodded watching her more intently, then he was the board she was scribbling on.

"And on the bottom she put all the possible felonies that could be connected with the smuggling ring. Then she accounted the amount of time they had each spent in prison, with this simple formula involving the use of the difference quotient."

"Cool! Go on, I'm following." Jeffrey was studying her graph. Skye looked at him with a bit of a surprised pleased look. As if finally seeing him. Jeffrey looked up, noticing her silence.

"What?"

"Nothing." Skye tore her eyes back to the poster board.

"Next, I rounded each number to its hundredth place..."

Skye was writing quickly now, circling numbers and drawing arrows.

...

"Finally," Skye concluded after a long explanation taking over the course of twenty minutes, "She took those exact results, graphed them, and boom! It could have only been Mel Lisa. What a terrible name."

"You wrote it." Jeffrey reminded, as looked over all of her calculations.

"I did-"

"Wow! These are amazing! You're just like Professor Yonder. Hey, is she based off of you?!" Jeffrey cut her off again.

"I am beginning to have my suspicions." Skye scowled as she flipped through the book.

"'Her charts detailing the fabric of the universe and all its vast constellations'" She read aloud, "C'mon, Jane, it's like you're not even trying. How did I not notice that before?"

"Well, considering I've been standing here for half an hour without you seeing me, I'd say you're pretty oblivious. For Pete's sake, her name's Blue Yonder. Could I have been more blatantly obvious?"

"Horrible name."

"Wait. I don't understand. What's going on?" Jeffrey asked. He wrinkled his nose, which in combination with his wild hair gave him a bit of an adorable lost puppy look. Not that Skye noticed of course, "Are you her manager or something?"

He really was absurdly clueless, as he looked at Jane questioningly.

Jane laughed hysterically at the idea.

"Oh God, Skye! Really?"

"Hey, it's not my fault. Whenever I tried to explain he'd always just cut me off. Remember when I said you have the nuttiest fans?"

"I'm sorry, Jeffrey, was it?" Jane wiped an eye, "I see you've had the unfortunate privilege of meeting my sister, Skye Penderwick."

First, Jeffrey's face was blank, and he looked back and forth between the two sisters in an attempt to understand. Skye gave him an apologetic smile, and finally Jeffrey processed his mistake.

"You're-You're not Jane Penderwick?"

"Not in the slightest. Thank goodness."

"Hey!" Jane elbowed her sister.

"You're Jane Penderwick?!" Jeffrey's eyes widened.

"Guilty as charged." Jane shrugged and smiled at him sympathetically.

"Well.. That's cool! Can I get your autograph?!"

For a brief moment, Jane thought she saw disappointment flicker over Skye's face. She couldn't be sure though, because Skye began to load the signs into her trunk, and she was acting as if she had no interest whatsoever in Jane and Jeffrey's conversation. Jane was about to shrug it off, until she observed how Jeffrey was staring off at Skye, instead of listening to her ramble about Sabrina Starr's origin. She even stopped talking completely at one point, and he didn't even notice.

Only when Skye had closed the trunk, and stood with her hands in her pockets next to Jane, did he quickly revert his eyes back on her and nod along fervently. Jane kept talking, but she could see it was a lost cause. Both Skye and Jeffrey were pretending to listen, but also pointedly avoiding looking at each other so hard that they couldn't focus on anything else.

Fortunately for these two, Jane was well skilled in the fine arts of l'amour. Or she would have been, if Skye had let her try to set her up on dates. That didn't matter though, because she had a full hand and she was going to play the cards for all she was worth.

"-And that's how I created her backstory." Jane paused, "You know, Jeffrey, this has been really fascinating, but it's about time for lunch and I'm starved. You're a native of this fine city. You know any good places to eat?"

"Um...yeah? I mean of course." Jeffrey twitched guiltily, "Um... There's a place...that's really good. It's just overrrrrrrrrrrrr...

The two Penderwick sisters both raised an eyebrow as Jeffrey drew out the word.

"That way." He pointed blindly.

"Great! Wanna come to lunch with us?!" Jane smiled brilliantly, and then turned to the car without letting Jeffrey give an answer, "Terrific, you point the way out. Dibs on shotgun!"

"You don't live here, do-" Skye started as soon as Jane was in the car.

"No, I don't live here." Jeffrey confirmed, "I drove down from Boston."

"Hey! Boston! Same." Skye threw her hands up.

"Really?! Sweet. What part are you in?" Jeffrey lit up.

'HONK'! Jane waved from the car.

"You drove all the way down from Boston, just to talk to someone who wrote a book?" Skye asked, ignoring Jane.

"I didn't drive!...I took the train, a bus, and ran the rest of the way." Jeffrey rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassedly, "But you know, driving doesn't sound as insane. Let's just say I drove down here."

Skye bent over laughing. Jeffrey blushed, but waited until she had finished.

"I just...Oh, that is the best thing I've ever heard!" She wheezed, "You went to all that trouble only to mistakenly assault someone other than the heroic authoress you were so crazy to meet."

"You know how everyone has moments in their life they'd like to try to forget? This is kinda of one of them." Jeffrey passed a hand over his face.

"Oh, sure. Sorry." Skye's mouth was still twitching. And she looked like she was holding back a quip.

Jeffrey sighed.

"Fine. Go ahead."

"Hey, Jeffrey, remember that time when you listened to me rant on for thirty minutes about graphical charts, because you thought I was a writer?" Skye cracked up all over again.

"Hey, remember that time where you decided to rant on for thirty minutes about graphical charts, instead of telling me who you really were?" Jeffrey reminded, hands on his hips.

"Hey, nobody ever lets me talk about math for that long. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity." Skye excused

"Really? I thought it was really interesting how you came up with that logarithm." Jeffrey said sincerely.

"Really?" Skye was taken aback.

"Yeah, it was pretty creative." Jeffrey insisted, "Why do you think Yonder's my favorite character?"

"Let me guess, it wasn't the name?"

"No." Jeffrey laughed at that, "It's because she's so resourceful, and whenever she hits a roadblock she just shoves right through it. She's so stubborn! I mean in the book, it took her seventeen different attempts to come up with the perfect solution, but she didn't quit once. She always had everyone's back, and not to mention her mean right hook. She comes across as super grumpy and irritable at first, but she develops as a character, and you can see how much she loves her other team members-"

HONK!

Jeffrey and Skye both jumped, and Jeffrey reddened as he realized just how much he had been rambling.

"She won't give in." Skye told him, "It looks like you're stuck with us for lunch. Fortunately for you, I scoped out a great restaurant earlier, Jane won't notice the difference."

"Nah, I can't intrude on your lunch." Jeffrey stepped back regretfully, "And I really should get back to Boston..."

"She'll be furious." Skye pressured. For the life of her, she couldn't tell what possessed her to push him so much, "C'mon, what's a thirty minute lunch in the grand scheme of things? Think about it, after all you went so far as to take a train and a bus here, and ran-"

"And there it is again." Jeffrey looked up at the sky resignedly.

They both laughed at that, though Jeffrey's laugh trailed off slowly until he was just staring at Skye with a absent-minded smile on his face. He shook himself, before she noticed.

"So...I've got to go." He winced apologetically, "I do have to get back, there's this thing I really need to get done. Say, sorry to Ms. Penderwick for me?"

"Um. Yeah, sure. I understand." Skye told him, backing up too.

"It was terrific meeting you." Jeffrey said earnestly, "And the amazing Jane Penderwick too of course."

"Yeah, definitely." Skye said, equally awkward.

Jeffrey turned to go, but hesitated and turned back.

"Hey!"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind signing my book? I mean, it's not everyday you meet the real life Professor Yonder." Jeffrey held out his book.

"Yeah sure! I'd be happy to." Skye took the book from him, "Can I borrow your pen?"

"Of course." Jeffrey handed her his glittery, piano keyboard, decorated pen.

Skye opened the front cover of the book and wrote her name neatly under Jane's messy scrawl.

"Thanks!" Jeffrey smiled at her.

"So... Uh, goodbye?" Skye asked

"Yeah, um, goodbye." Jeffrey walked backwards, clutching his book. Then, he decided walking backwards was too awkward and turned around.

"Hey! You want your pen back?" Skye called after him.

"Nah! Keep it." Jeffrey waved back, and then because there was a weird tension in the air, he broke off into a run. Soon, he was out of sight.

Honnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnk!

Skye started and turned to see Jane giving her a put-out glare, without removing her hand from the horn. Skye got the feeling that Jane was dissatisfied that she had let Jeffrey leave.

Stranger still, Skye felt a little rueful herself. She pushed that away though. There's just some moments or feelings in everyone's life that they want to forget.

...

[Two years later]

"Can you believe this!?" Jane squealed and spun in her swivel chair, "I still can't! We're eight months in working on this, and I still can't believe they're making a movie of my book!"

"I told them that the only possibility of time traveling around a blackhole- if time travel even exists- is to fly around it counterclockwise not clockwise!" Skye said in exasperation as she made yet another x mark on the script she was reading.

"You know I'm beginning to regret making you fact-checker." Jane complained, "You keep raining on my parade. Can't you be excited at least once!"

"Aren't you supposed to be writing or something?" Skye muttered as she kept reading.

"I'm already three weeks ahead of my deadline. I'm just waiting for you to finish reading those scenes, so we can go meet a composer who wants to write the music for the movie. The producer said he's brilliant, but wanted to run the music by me to see if it's what I pictured for the story."

"Why would I want to listen to someone blabbering on and on about music?" Skye asked, leaning back and clicking her pen absent-mindedly.

"Because I'm too nice!" Jane pointed out, " This way I can let you tell him how I feel about the music and if I hate it, you can just shut him down."

"Why on earth can't you just hire an agent?" Skye grumbled.

"I've got you for that." Jane waved, "Why would I need anything more than you and my publicist?"

"Glad to hear that you put me on the same level as that over-zealous man in pink." Skye faked offense.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Darren is way higher than you. You're like all the way down here, and he's up here." Jane shot back, measuring the distance with her hands.

"I could just leave you to meet that composer on your own." Skye reminded.

"I mean way up here!" Jane corrected, smiling pleasantly, "Of course you're way off the charts, my dearest sister!"

"Don't ever address me as dearest again." Skye made three more x marks, and then tossed the screenplay aside, "Alright, let's get this over with, where are we going?"

"We're meeting them at the sound studio." Jane tossed Skye her jacket, "The guy's apparently already got some melodies in place, he just wants to run them by us first."

"Doesn't that sound something like the director would take care of though?" Skye frowned.

"Well, it turns out this guy is a huge fan of my book, and he wanted to make sure he's doing right by my standards."

"Oh, great. Another nut case?" Skye moaned, "I'm just about done with these crazy fans of your's. What this guy's name?"

"Uh...it's a Mr. Tifton." Jane squinted at the name written on her hand.

"He sounds snooty and pompous." Skye wrinkled her nose.

"I know! It kinda makes me want to give my next villain that name. Only problem is that it's a she and she's an aristocratic woman with a shrill voice and control issues..."

...

"Ah, Ms. Penderwick!" The director exclaimed pleasantly, then he observed Skye standing behind Jane and his face fell, "I see you've brought your sister. Hello, Ms. Penderwick."

Skye only grunted, as she read over the clipboard in her hand. She clicked her pen and scribbled something on the sheet of paper.

"Ms. Penderwick and...Ms. Penderwick, may I introduce the composer, Mr. Tifton."

Skye didn't look up, too immersed in her paperwork. Jane poked her viciously, and frantically.

"Hi." Skye waved in the general direction without looking up.

"Um...Skye." Jane said urgently out of the side of her mouth.

"Sec..." Skye mumbled, "I'm almost done disproving this thesis."

"Nice pen." A strange voice, she assumed belonged to the composer spoke up, "I bet you can draw up a lot of useful graphical charts with it."

"What?" Skye looked up in bewilderment.

Standing there, his arms crossed, his hair ridiculously everywhere, and a broad grin on his face, was someone she hadn't ever expected to run across again. The goofiest and probably biggest fangirl she had ever had the privilege of meeting. It was Jeffrey.

"You!" Skye fumbled in shock.

"Yes, me. Though I also answer by my first and/or last name." He laughed, his eyes creasing.

"Jeffrey.." Skye pointed at him with her pen, and turned to Jane in disbelief, "It's him right? I'm not going crazy?"

"You remembered my name?!" He looked pleased.

"I think it is him." Jane agreed, just as stunned as Skye.

"You're the composer!?" Asked Skye

"Your last name's Tifton?" Jane asked, what was in her opinion, a more logical question.

"Yes, to both." Jeffrey beamed, and pointed to the pen Skye was holding, "You kept my pen for this long?"

"What?" Skye shoved the pen in her pocket, " No. I mean...it was a good enough pen. I just found it the other day."

"She's refilled the ink at least eight times. It's the only pen she uses." Jane spoke up.

Skye kicked Jane's ankle "accidentally", and both she and Jeffrey avoided looking at each other.

"Ahem!" Fake coughed the director, who felt considerably out of the loop.

"Oh, right! So do you want to check out the scores I've arranged?" Jeffrey collected himself and jerked his thumb in the direction of a small sound booth. I've got some stuff I think will work, and I can fix them up if some scenes change. It's mostly just the characters' themes and the movie's main theme."

"Sounds great!" Chirped Jane, "Let's go take a listen!"

"Can we make it quick, though?" Asked the director, "We have a whole stack of audition tapes to go through too."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Jeffrey sat down at an upright piano, and shuffled through a few pieces on the stand, "All right, this is what I came up with for the theme. I was trying to make it triumphant, but also with a bit of a thriller sound to generate anticipation."

Jeffrey cracked his fingers, glanced at his sheet music to refresh his mind, and then closing his eyes, his fingers began to move along the piano keys with an easy practiced air. The piece started out gently, with what Skye had to admit was a pretty memorable tune.

"See it'll start out like this." Jeffrey said over his shoulder, "Then-"

He reached over to the giant soundboard that lay to his left, and while still playing the twinkling melody with his right hand, he flipped a few switches and pushed a button on the soundboard.

A rolling booming drum sounded.

"Percussions come in next." Jeffrey explained, "Because it helps build up the suspense. Then we add the strings and woodwinds in for the beginning of the chorus..."

Jeffrey flipped some more switches, pushed up a few bars, and turned a knob.

It all began to fit together to produce a more complete sound.

"Lastly, we bring in the brass." Jeffrey looked happy as he described the process, his eyes flashing with a proud-like passion, "And this just gives a cool introduction as we build into the climax."

Jeffrey flipped one more switch, and he was right. It sounded majestic.

Jane and Skye both exchanged a look of pleasant surprise. Jane nodded. Jeffrey was definitely the composer she wanted for the movie. Skye was relieved. It would have been a very uncomfortable situation for her if she had had to say Jeffrey's work wouldn't do.

The climax rolled through the room, and carefully Jeffrey brought each instrument back down until only the piano was left, and that he brought down to a slow closing finale. As the last few notes died out, he turned on the bench.

"Well...do you think it'll do at all?" He twitched nervously, "I mean obviously it would sound ten times better with a full orchestra, and I could always scrap it and work on a new one I'd you don't like-"

"No, it's perfect." Skye told him, Jane nodded in eager confirmation as she wiped a teary eye.

"All right, then." The director pulled out his phone. "That's settled. We'll draw up the appropriate paper work and arrange your contract with your manager."

"That would be what he's for." Jeffrey looked a little stunned, but also like he was bubbling over with excitement, "I've got a whole bunch of other pieces too though, do you want to-"

"Just a reminder, Ms. Penderwick, we do have all those audition tapes to look over." Director Carson interrupted.

"Oh, right!" Jane face-palmed, "How 'bout Skye stays with you, Jeffrey, and listens to those pieces. Sound good?"

Then, without giving the two a chance to argue, she grabbed the director's arm and swept out of the room.

"Good! See you later!"

Skye looked around the whole studio, and Jeffrey shuffled his papers around. The silence was uncomfortable.

"So...how have you been?" Jeffrey cleared his throat, but didn't tear his eyes from his music.

"I've been good. How 'bout you? You haven't been going around asking for autographs from people who look like Keira Knightley have you?" Joked Skye.

"Actually..." Jeffrey made an embarrassed face.

"No! You didn't!" Skye's said incredulously.

"No, I didn't. Just kidding." Jeffrey chuckled, "What about you? You still ranting about math to anyone who gives you a chance?"

"Sort of. I'm an Astrophysicist, and I've actually lectured and debated quite a bit on the subject. I've also written a book, though I can't say I have crazy people coming up to me in the street to ask me to sign their copy of it."

"Hey! That's great, good for you." Jeffrey said genuinely, "Though I'm going to pretend you didn't say that last part. That's really awesome!"

"Thanks." Skye smiled back at him, "How 'bout you though? Are you really still hunting through those music sheets or just shuffling them mindlessly? I'd love to hear what you've got."

"It's nothing great." Jeffrey shrugged, "But there is one score I wrote, that you might find interesting. It's the theme I wrote for Yonder."

"Cool." Skye took a seat on the chair in the corner, "Go ahead."

Jeffrey placed a rumpled piece of paper on the piano stand. The paper was creased and smeared from so many passages being erased over and over. Skye had to wonder how Jeffrey could even read it.

Jeffrey let out a long breath, bent over his piano, and played. Skye listened mesmerized. The piece he played made the previous score sound tinny and out of tune. This one was a masterpiece. It was slow but radiating with a power, his right hand played an impulsive and wild melody, while his left hand played lower down and sounded steady and unmoving. Skye was so enthralled she almost didn't notice when Jeffrey turned to look at her once he had finished.

"I know...it's not exactly right." Jeffrey scratched his head humbly, "But-"

"No! It was-it was terrific." Skye hurried to stop him, "I'm serious. I've never been one to care much for music, but that really connected with me. It was amazing! How did you ever write that!"

Jeffrey shrugged, but he was flushed from her praise.

"It's actually pretty old. I wrote it like two years ago. It's called, "Fair Skies", you know, keeping in with the Yonder theme."

"It's incredible!" Skye insisted, "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."

"Yeah, well I did write it right after I met you. It was based off you." Jeffrey stated matter-of-factly.

Skye's eyebrows shot up. Jeffrey's eyes widened as he registered what he had said.

"I..um.." Skye didn't know what to say to that.

Jeffrey groaned and pulled on his hair, which turned out to be kind of humorous and kind of made Skye feel more sorry for him then she did awkward.

"Sorry. That was stupid." Jeffrey cringed and ducked his head. His ears were turning red. "I didn't mean it like that..."

"Like what?"

"Like...creepy." Jeffrey winced, "What I meant is that you were so much like the character I couldn't help being inspired to write her theme after I met you. That's it, I swear. God! Why do I end up humiliating myself like that every time I see you?"

Jeffrey buried his face in his hands. Skye had to bite back a grin. He was overreacting, which made her feel better and not so worried that she was the only overly-conscious person in the room.

"Its not creepy." Skye assured him, "I'm flattered."

"Really?" Jeffrey peered hopefully up at her.

"Yeah. Like I said, it's a pretty genius piece of work."

"Oh, good." Jeffrey sighed in relief and pushed back his hair, "Sorry, I didn't mean to be over-dramatic. You're the first person I've ever played that composition for is all. I was worried that it wasn't that good. Thank you."

"I'm honored."

A heavy silence fell over the room, as both of its inhabitants struggled to find something else to say. It felt like there was something in the air between the two, but both were afraid that it was only they that felt it. So the silence increased and increased, their eyes met nervously once and that made it worse. Finally, it grew so unbearably painful to Skye that she had to speak.

"It was great seeing you again."

"Yeah, you too." Jeffrey jumped up jerkily, and then shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I'm glad you got picked to be composer."

"Yeah, you- I mean, me too." He corrected himself abruptly,

"I just have work to do..." Skye backed up towards the door, waving the clipboard in a gesture of explanation, "This thesis is faulty-"

She paused as her eyes fell on the thesis, and got distracted by it.

"Yeah, I should get back to work too." Jeffrey waved towards his piano, "See you around?"

"Yeah." Skye was still staring at her clipboard, but also fishing in her pocket as she left, "Great seeing you again, Jeffrey."

She waved back at him distantly again, only this time she was holding the pen she had taken out of her pocket. The pen he had given her.

Jeffrey fidgeted in place, undecided for a moment, but then he moved. Dashing to the door, he flung it open to rush after Skye, only to take a step back because she was standing right there still writing on her clipboard.

"Ha, I knew your little thesis was bull crap, Pearson." She muttered to herself triumphantly, before looking up at Jeffrey questioningly, "Hey, something wrong?"

"I was-I just-" Jeffrey felt his adrenaline rush drifting away, so he pushed on quickly, "I was just wondering if I could ask you out to a movie or for a cup of coffee sometime?"

Skye opened her mouth, but Jeffrey kept rambling.

"I mean unless you don't like coffee or something, we could always do tea because most places sell tea and-"

"A movie sounds good, Jeffrey." Skye cut him off.

"Really?!" Jeffrey's face shone, "I mean great! I mean, does Tuesday sound good?"

"It sounds perfect." Skye found it hard to resist a smile, "Here's my number."

She wrote the numbers down neatly on the corner of her paper, and tearing it off, she handed it to him, "We can text out the details."

"Great! Great!" Jeffrey brushed back his hair, "...Great!"

"Great." Skye did her best not to laugh, "See you then."

"Grea- I mean, yeah, see you!" Jeffrey waved.

Skye had barely made it fifteen feet away from the little sound booth when she heard Jeffrey playing his "Fair Skies" music again.

She couldn't stop herself from smiling for the rest of the day.

* * *

 **So I think I went a little crazy over this prompt, at over five thousand words it's the longest piece I've ever written. Sorry to everyone who submitted a prompt and didn't see it get written. There's always the next time around, which will be update no. 6. Submit as many ideas as you want, I love and appreciate your creativity.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: Thanks for the one shot prompt, sorry that I didn't use it this time. I love the idea of Jeffrey and Skye being forced on the date, and I want to use it at some point, but I haven't brainstormed it enough yet. I don't think it's stupid at all, and I genuinely care for it. I'm going to use it soon, promise. Thank you for your review!**

 **Nijibrush: Thank you, I'm beginning to like this project a lot myself. I love writing AU's. As you can see, I went full out crazy over your idea. It kind of possessed me. I almost started it right away, but it was already midnight when I read your review, and I needed to get up for work at five. Then, I started writing it as soon as I woke up. I don't know why, but the whole idea tickled my fancy and I've been obsessing over it all yesterday and today, hence this update that came so soon. Thank you for that prompt, it really made the past few days for me. It deviated a bit from your original suggestion, sorry about that. Hope you enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter 4

"You're late." Rosalind looked up as Skye walked in through the front door, "Was there a lot of traffic?"

"Not a ton, there was just some idiot talking on his phone in front of me, and he was driving slow." Skye complained and tossed the delivery van's keys in a box behind the counter, "Where's Jane? Isn't she back from school yet?"

"No, she has theater Thursdays, remember?" Rosalind finished tying a bunch of roses together and then began to wrap them in plastic.

"Right." Skye nodded. She took off her jacket and placed it on the hook, "Aren't you supposed to have a break?"

"I can manage without one. There's no-one to cover without Daddy here."

"I'll cover." Skye waved her off, "The rest of the deliveries can wait half-an-hour."

"Are you sure?" Rosy asked doubtfully, "I know you hate helping customers, and to be honest you still don't know half of these flowers' names."

"Ha! That's where you're wrong. Well sorta." Skye pulled out a notebook. "I've been writing down all the flower arrangements, what each flower represents, and all their names with descriptions."

Rosalind raised an eyebrow.

"Go ahead. Ask me anything." Skye dared.

"What's a yellow chrysanthemum symbolize?" Rosalind challenged.

Skye flipped through her notebook.

"It stands for...ah, slighted love." Skye announced triumphantly.

"Which flower in this bunch is a geranium?" Rosalind questioned holding up a bouquet.

Skye hunted down her geranium description and then looked over the flowers Rosalind was holding out to her.

"It's a trick question." She decided at last, "You don't have one in there."

"Good." Rosalind smiled, pleasantly surprised, "Well...I guess it wouldn't hurt to let you, and Thursday afternoons are usually really slow."

"Go on already." Skye waved impatiently.

"Alright, I'm going." Rosalind laughed, and then paused at the door that led upstairs to where the family lived, "Oh, I almost forgot. The sprinkler in the potted section is acting all fritzy again, could you take a look at it?"

"Again?" Skye frowned and grabbed her toolbelt, "Sure, I'm on it."

"Thank you!" Rosalind waved back as she went upstairs.

...

Jeffrey rushed to duck under the canopy of the 'Penderwick Family's Flower Shoppe'. He shook his hair out vigorously and wiped the rain from his face. It was really coming down hard, not that he really minded. It was just rain, and Jeffrey loved the feel of it. Everyone else appeared grumpy as they ran around with their umbrellas. His had broken, predictably. He had had his suspicions that it was cheaply made when he bought it at a dollar store, but he couldn't help himself. Not when it had the lyrics to "Raindrops Falling on My Head" written on it.

Jeffrey shook the broken umbrella out carelessly, and scraped his sneakers on the welcome mat to the florist shop. He turned the knob on the door, with a jingle of the bell above. Stepping in, he was embraced with the warm, earthy scent of the flowers. Jeffrey inhaled deeply, and instantly felt relaxed. The worst thing about living in the city was definitely the lack of outdoor space. The closest thing to an open field he had seen in months was the dead ivy plant his roommate was too lazy to throw out.

Jeffrey finally opened his eyes and looked around, but he couldn't see anyone around. No florist, and no customers. Must have been slow due to the rain.

"Hello?" Jeffrey called out, turning in circles among the multicolored forest of roses, "Anybody in?"

"Back here." Someone replied from somewhere off on his left. "I'm in the greenhouse with the potted stuff. Door to your left."

Jeffrey ducked past a wide array of daffodils, and found the open sliding glass door to the greenhouse. He entered and his eyes lit up. If the front area of the store was welcoming, the greenhouse felt like heaven.

Different flowers and leafy plants hung on hooks all around. Table displays were crowded with tiny Clematis in little garden boxes, looming Calla lilies stretching up daintily out of their orange pots, and dark, indigoed Bachelor's Buttons clustering thickly together. There were even some Pink Lady Slippers dangling from their stems precariously that reminded Jeffrey of romps in the woods up in Maine, where he had visited his dad.

"Just give me a sec." Grunted a voice that startled Jeffrey. He had been so enthralled by the greenhouse, he had forgotten the person who had directed him inside. He spun around and finally noticed the person on a stepladder way at the back of the greenhouse.

She appeared to be tinkering with a metal sprinkler set in wood panel on the glass ceiling. He looked up appreciatively at the dark skies as they poured down raindrops that ran down the glass. The girl wobbled slightly on her ladder as she gave a rather energetic turn of her wrench, and Jeffrey hurried to hold the ladder still for her.

"Thank you." She glanced briefly down at him, "Sorry to keep you waiting, I'm almost done."

"No rush." Jeffrey told her, "Take your time."

She mumbled a thanks, and switched her wrench out for a screwdriver on her belt. Jeffrey squinted up at the sprinkler trying to figure out what the girl was trying to fix in it, when she gave her screwdriver one last tight turn and finished her work. There was no question as to whether it was fixed or not, because the sprinkler instantly sparked to life and flooded them with a surprisingly strong blast of water.

Jeffrey and the girl spluttered in shocked unison and hurried to block their faces with a defensive hand. The girl tried hopelessly to undo whatever she had done, but only succeeded in getting more soaked. She gave up, and leaping off her stepladder, she ran over to a corner of the greenhouse and turned the water off at its source, the knob by the water spout.

"Really, Rosy? You couldn't turn the water off, or at least warn me?" She muttered flinging droplets of water off of her dripping hands.

"Sorry about that." The girl said ruefully back to Jeffrey, and it was the first clear sight he had of her face. She looked exasperated, her blonde hair wet and stringy. She looked pretty, even despite the circumstances.

"Don't worry about it." Jeffrey was quick to reassure her as he shook his sopping curly wet hair out of his eyes, "I was already soaked, thanks to the rain outside."

"Still, it was careless of me not to make sure the water was turned off first." She insisted, "Let me get you a towel, you can wait out by the counter."

She was off before Jeffrey could protest, so he followed her instructions, though he left the welcoming jungle rather regretfully. The blonde was back with a towel before Jeffrey even had a chance to settle.

"I'm really sorry about that." She apologized again.

"It's fine." Jeffrey dried himself off best he could, "You did a great job fixing the sprinkler."

"Yeah, a little too good." She mumbled from under another towel as she rubbed her wet hair vigorously with it, "Sorry about the extended wait, was there anything in particular that you were looking for?"

Her blonde hair was a ridiculously tangled mess, but she didn't seem to care. And to be perfectly honest, it didn't take anything away from her looks.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you guys just made specific kinds of bouquets or if there was a way I could tell you what flowers I wanted in the bouquet and you could make it according to that order." Jeffrey motioned with his hands.

"Yeah, we can do that. Do you want it right now?" For some reason she sounded rather panicked.

"No, I was just curious. Is there a way I could make a preorder though?"

"Yeah, you can do that too." The blonde smiled in what looked like a relief.

"Great. I wanted to beat the crowd of last minute people on Mother's Day." Jeffrey explained.

"Smart thinking." The blonde snatched up a pad of paper, "What do you want in the bouquet?"

"I was thinking Baby's Breath, some apricot-colored roses or light orange ones if you don't have those, some dahlias too, some hydrangeas, and...hmm. Do you think orchids would look good in there?"

The blonde visibly hesitated.

"Yeah?"

"You'd think so, right?" Jeffrey squinted thoughtfully, "I mean I can't think how'd they clash with any of the others as long as you went with a light color instead of like one of their deeper hues. Like maybe put some light green ones in or something? What do you think?"

"To be perfectly honest with you, I have the faintest idea. I have no idea what an orchid looks like unless I look through my cheat notebook." The blonde informed him, pulling a very wet and disheveled notebook out of her pocket, ruefully "The last time I made a bouquet I mixed roses with carnations and that was apparently an off limits combination."

"Were the carnations pink and the roses red?"

"Probably. Can't remember."

Jeffrey shuddered.

"Yeah, just don't do that ever." He shook his head, "But why do you work here if you don't know how to work the flowers?"

"It's my dad's business, the whole family helps out, but I mainly do all the deliveries and fix what breaks. I don't care all that much for flowers, I'm covering for my sister because she's on lunch. We've been a little stretched out on help, lately."

Jeffrey nodded in understanding.

"Well in that case, I'll just go with orchids in there. It makes sense in my mind."

"Orchids it is." She jotted it down, "Anything else in there?"

"If you guys make it and feel something is missing, I don't mind if you add something else." Jeffrey shrugged.

"So mystery flower." Skye wrote that down, "I'll need your name and number too. Also when you want the bouquet."

"That's Jeffrey Tifton, my number is 508-249-6754, and I'll pick it up on Mother's Day." He told her, leaning on the counter.

"All right." She tore the sheet off and taped to the wall behind her, "Anything else while you're still here?"

"Yeah, actually. What's a good inside plant that doesn't ask up too much care?"

The blonde furrowed her brow and looked at a loss.

"Um..."

"I'm kidding." Jeffrey waved her off, "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"No, I was just trying to decide between a cactus and Venus fly trap." She said, "Those are the only two plants I can remember. Though, who am I kidding. You should always go with a Venus fly trap."

Jeffrey laughed.

"Good advice, but no I'm all set. Thanks for the towel." He handed it back to her.

"Sorry about that again."

"Nah, it's fine."

Jeffrey waved as he opened the door. Then he paused and turned.

"Hey, out of curiosity, are you guys accepting any job applications?"

...

(One month later)

Jeffrey couldn't tell you what his favorite part of working at the Penderwick's flower store was. Everything about it was great.

Mr. Penderwick was great. He was remarkably calm and the quiet anchor in a family composed of loud going-ons. He also had to be the most knowledgeable botanist Jeffrey had ever met. Which was saying a lot, because his mother made him attend several of her garden parties. Skye had laughed at that.

Iantha was Mr. Penderwick's second wife and was the kindest, most good-hearted person he had ever met. She didn't do much in the floral department because she taught college astrophysics, but she did teach Jeffrey how to do his taxes. He no longer feared the possibility of jail due to tax evasion.

Rosalind, the oldest Penderwick sister was incredibly patient and made sure nothing slipped up. She ran the household, headed the ordering, made sure everything got done in due time. And she never forget the slightest detail. Like how she had kept a constant supply of coffee in the pot during his and Skye's finals, and dealt with their panicked anxiety and their sudden push-up contests that would break out at the drop of a hat.

Jane was the most energetic Penderwick, and by far the best saleswoman there. She was able to find the perfect bouquet for every man that walked through the door, just by chatting them up. Out of nowhere, she'd be able to tell even the most clueless guy what his significant other's favorite flowers were and make a perfect arrangement for him. She was also writing a play for her school's theater group, and she and Jeffrey would go in the greenhouse when they were on break and read the parts to see if they made sense. Skye walked in on them once and had laughed her head off, until Jane had coerced her into joining in because it meant she and Jeffrey got to engage in a fencing match. Skye had won, even though it was his character who was supposed to.

Batty, the youngest Penderwick sister, was the artistic one in the family and did up each day's signs. She was extremely timid, but Jeffrey had finally broken the ice with her when he found out she loved music just as much as he did. Sometimes, they'd talk loudly about old jazz masters just to annoy Skye.

Ben was Iantha's son, and the sisters' step-brother. He was a pudgy little red-head that followed Batty everywhere. He was really good at helping water the plants outside and at least could remember more of the tricks of the trade than Skye could. Though, Jeffrey had caught her showing Ben how to drive the delivery van at one point.

Hound was the Penderwick's enormous dog, and although very tame had a tendency to drool and eat flowers. So they had to keep him in the enclosed backyard.

That leaves the only member of the Penderwick family that hasn't been mentioned: Skye Penderwick. Skye was the blonde stranger Jeffrey hadn't known one month ago as more than the blonde strange girl who had accidentally turned an indoor greenhouse sprinkler on him. Skye turned out to be really sarcastic and intelligent, something Jeffrey learned on his first day when Jane had told Jeffrey she could talk about musicals all day. Skye had rolled her eyes.

"Orchid you not?" She motioned with a box of flowers she was carrying to her van. To be sure, the flowers were not orchids, but it still made Jeffrey laugh so hard, the root beer he was drinking went snorting out through his nose.

Skye was going to be an astrophysicist, and once -when he had to stay late for inventory-she took him up on the roof went into excessive detail describing the star-lit heavens above them.

Skye was also the one who took him on a delivery run and almost made him puke, because she took her turns too fast and aggressively refused to let anyone cut her off.

And between you and me, Jeffrey really could tell what his favorite part of working at the Penderwick's flower store was. I'm pretty sure you could tell too. It was Skye Penderwick.

...

"As a matter of fact, I did play soccer. Not on a team like you guys, but Cagney played with me whenever he had the chance."

"Who's Cagney?" Jane asked wrapping some flowers.

"His invisible best friend." Skye spun her soccerball on one finger from where she sat in the corner.

"No, he isn't my invisible best friend." Jeffrey stuck his tongue out at her, "That was Jeremy, until he threw my very nice pair of sandals in the duck pond; though, between you and me I never cared much for those ugly sandals either."

Skye snorted. Jeffrey grinned pleased with himself.

"Anyway Cagney is my mother's groundskeeper and gardener."

"And your secret boyfriend."

"You're just jealous because I have boyfriend." Jeffrey shot back.

"Ooh, shots fired. Nice one." Jane high-fived Jeffrey.

"Ha, joke's on you. I just started dating someone last week, and we're getting pretty serious."

"Really?" Jeffrey was taken aback.

"Really?!" Jane's eyes lit up, "What's his name?"

"Jeremy. And he's been standing here this whole time." Skye said with a dramatic reveal.

She paused and cocked her head.

"What's that, Jeremy? Jeffrey was a manipulative backstabber who blamed you for the sandals when he was the one who threw them in the duck pond?"

Jane cracked up over that.

"And Skye takes the lead." Jane high-fived her sister.

"Alright, laugh all you want." Jeffrey crossed his arms, "Like you guys didn't have invisible friends you blamed everything on."

"I did actually." Skye admitted, "Only she wasn't invisible, and she didn't have an unimaginative name that sounded suspiciously like my own."

"To you maybe she wasn't invisible." Jeffrey retorted, "What was her name?"

"Jane." Skye threw the soccer ball at his head.

"I knew I wasn't responsible for ripping a hole in your dress!" Jane exclaimed.

Jeffrey couldn't help breaking out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, and Skye couldn't help snicker at the sight of Jeffrey losing it. To be fair, he lost it over the lamest of jokes, but it had become one of Skye's goals in life to see how many times she could make him crack up.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing homework?" Jane asked Skye pointedly.

Skye had only sat behind the front counter five times before in the three years that the flower shoppe had been open. Even then the longest amount of time had been only twenty minutes, and that had been because she had been fixing the cash register so it would stop jamming shut. Recently, though, she had taken to sitting back there more often. She had discovered it as the perfect place to do homework. And she had also found the greenhouse's bench to be the best spot to read her enormous astrophysics books. It was purely coincidental that Jeffrey was always manning the counter when she did homework, and that he took care of plants in the greenhouse when she was busy reading. Jane didn't think it was purely coincidental.

...

(One month later.)

Jeffrey was struck with a big, life-changing realization on a rather small ordinary summer day.

It was your average work day at the flower shoppe, Skye had just finished a delivery and Jeffrey had just been relieved by Rosalind so he could take his half-hour lunch. The two coworkers/friends were sitting under the canopy overhanging the front of the shop, because it was the shadiest location they could find. They were mainly joking back and forth as was their want. As usual, Skye got pretend offended by something Jeffrey had said.

"Watch yourself, Tifton. You might provoke me into an act of "violets"." She held up a small pot.

"Those are Pansies." Jeffrey wheezed, his sandwich choking him as he laughed too hard.

"All the better. It's the perfect flower for you." Skye pounded his back, unsympathetically, to stop his choking.

Jeffrey opened his mouth to complain, but that's when it hit him, and I don't mean Skye's enthusiastic back pounding. He took one look at Skye, and choked even harder. Because it was that moment right there that changed his life drastically.

He was in love with Skye.

...

(Another month later)

"Hey, Mr. Penderwick, do you think I could have September 5th off?" Jeffrey asked, as the head of the household walked past, his nose in a supply catalogue.

"Hmmm?" Mr. Penderwick looked up, "But of course."

"Great, because there's this-"

"It's Labor Day, I'm closing the shop." Mr Penderwick continued, smiling.

"Labor day?" Jeffrey blinked in surprise, "I forgot."

"Yes, we're all planning a day at the beach. You're welcome to join us of course."

"Um...No. No, thank you." Jeffrey's face fell, and he hurriedly crumpled a piece of paper behind his back, "I've got a thing that day."

"Too bad." Mr. Penderwick said, "Would have loved for you to join us."

"Yeah, sorry." Jeffrey hurriedly tossed the wad of paper at the trash can, "I hate to miss it. Hope you guys have a great time."

...

(September 5th)

Jeffrey exhaled slowly, trying to ease the panic he felt seizing up in him. He peered out past the curtain at the audience shuffling around as they tried to find good seats. Why were there so many? Jeffrey was beginning to wish he had a paper bag on hand.

"Relax, Tifton. If anyone's got this, it's you." Darryl, an oboe player, patted Jeffrey's shoulder, "You're gonna nail your solo part."

"Thanks for the reminder that I'm doing a solo bit." Jeffrey groaned.

"C'mon, Dude. Just do it for your family out there."

"My mother couldn't show." Jeffrey told him point blank, "My friends couldn't make it here either. Although, they had the excuse of not knowing about it."

"Jeez, sorry, Man." Darryl winced.

"Nah, It's fine." Jeffrey sighed, "It's okay, really. You're right I'll do great."

"Glad to hear that, because the conductor is gesturing us on, Dude."

The next five minutes were a blur to Jeffrey. He felt himself swept onto the stage in Daryl's supportive grasp, and he found himself sitting at his piano almost magically. He felt like he was going through an out of body experience, and he was only looking down on himself from somewhere else. Then, as his eyes were dragging along the audience, and he began to feel sick to his stomach, his gaze fell on someone familiar. Jeffrey had to do a double take, and then, his mouth dropped in shock.

There, grinning smugly and looking decidedly pleased with herself, was Skye Penderwick. Jeffrey was so startled, he missed his cue by two seconds and he had to hurry to get back in place. Jeffrey didn't know how or why Skye was there, but he definitely wasn't upset about it. He felt loads calmer, and everything he had practiced instantly came back to him. The whole concert lasted only about an hour, but that hour flew by in a whirl of music that Jeffrey heard but didn't really pay any mind to. And when the program had ended and all the musicians had taken their bows, Jeffrey saw Skye standing and applauding with the rest of the audience.

...

"Flowers for the concierge?" Skye bowed mockingly and held out a bouquet of roses to Jeffrey.

"You do know that a concierge is someone who works at a hotel right?" Jeffrey questioned.

"I think I know the meaning of such a simple word, Tifton." Skye snorted, "And that's a connoisseur."

"Sometimes I can't tell if you're joking or not." Jeffrey squinted at her.

"Jeffrey, if I was joking. I would have called you something ridiculous like a 'concertist', or some other made up word."

Jeffrey snorted.

Skye grinned.

"Hey, you did great up there." Skye socked his arm.

"Thank you. Thanks for coming too, a-and for the flowers." Jeffrey stuttered, still a bit lost as to why she even was there.

"Yeah, you guys weren't boring at all. Kinda surprising, you know." Skye admitted, "Since whenever you talk music I fall asleep. Hey, you need a ride?"

"Uh-yeah. Yes, please." Jeffrey stammered.

"Figured. You've got to hurry up and get your license already. Hey, if you got your permit I could totally teach-"

"Yeah, um...how'd you know about this?" Jeffrey demanded, cutting Skye off "And what about your family's day at the beach?"

"The beach sucks." Skye shrugged.

Jeffrey gave her a look.

"There was a big wedding order for flowers put in last week. I stayed to deliver the stuff, and I made sure the others kept it on the downlow. I was worried you'd pull your chivalrous bit and insist on doing it, when I know you specifically asked for today off." Skye explained, getting in on the driver's side of the van, "On the positive side, I got an enormous tip."

"Okay, that explains why you aren't with the rest of your family, but how'd you find out about the concert?"

Skye pulled a rumpled flyer out of her pocket and tossed it at Jeffrey's head.

"I found that on the floor next to the trash can." She glowered at him, "You have terrible aim, and the ground's always littered with wrappers because of you. Anyway, your name's on there. I figured I'd swing by just in case you had nobody else showing up."

"Thanks. Really." Jeffrey told her seriously. Skye glanced briefly at his face as she pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'm glad you showed up, it means a lot."

"No sweat." Skye said at last, "It's what friends do. I've got your back."

It began to rain a few seconds later, and the two sat there silently as the rain tapped on the van, and the windshield wipers beat in time.

"So what're you going to do when you get home?"

"I dunno. Tie up a few loose ends around the shop. Relax. I can do pretty much anything. I can go out in the pouring rain and play soccer, and no one can stop me. I can eat cake for supper. I can clean up Jane's side of the room." Skye grinned maliciously.

"Wow. You're getting real crazy there."

"What can I say? I live life on the wild side." Skye said modestly.

"You can come over too, if you want." She said after a moment's hesitation, "We can hang out if you're not doing anything."

"I'm not." Jeffrey said quickly.

"Cool."

The rain poured down even harder than before, and when they got back to the florist shoppe, Skye and Jeffrey had to make a mad dash for the door. They still got soaked.

Skye turned the key in the lock and they both jumped inside.

"Holy macaroni, it's coming down out there. Hope the others don't have too much trouble driving home."

"Relax, unlike you, your dad knows how to drive. I'm sure he won't cut around a corner blindly." Jeffrey patted her shoulder.

"Hey! I clearly had the right of way!" Skye protested, "That jerk completely disregarded his stop sign."

"Skye, that's because he didn't have a stop sign. You had the stop sign."

"And I counted to three seconds."

"That doesn't matter, he had the right of way. C'mon! How on earth did you get your license?"

"Okay, that was three years ago. You can't expect me to remember all of those rules." Skye snorted and tossed Jeffrey a towel.

"Hey, it was raining when I first met you." He pointed out, "Remember, you hosed me down with the sprinkler?"

"And I actually felt bad about it?" Skye agreed, "Now, I would do it on purpose with out a second thought."

Jeffrey made a face at her.

"Do you want to go in there?" He asked twisting the towel in his hands, "It's always cool watching the rain fall on the glass."

"That's cheesy." Skye snorted, "I like it when the lightening cracks right past the window."

"That's morbidly terrifying." Jeffrey corrected.

"Don't be a pansie, Tifton." Skye held up a pot demonstratively.

"That's a Begonia."

"More like 'Be gone with ya'. Huh?"

"No. No, that one doesn't work. In fact it's kind of sad." Jeffrey shook his head.

"You're sad." Skye grumbled. She couldn't think of another comeback.

"Wow. Good one." Jeffrey clapped slowly, "I know it took a lot of thinking for you to come up with that one, and I just wanted to be sure you know that it really blew me away. I can't stress how original and cutting that was."

Skye shoved him into one of the large, empty pots in the greenhouse. It was a very effective way of cutting him off.

"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry. That's really unTHORNate." Skye said sarcastically, "Can I just say I'm URNestly sorry?"

"You good now?" Jeffrey grunted as he toppled the urn over and climbed out. Unfortunately, the inside of the pot had been rather muddy, and his dress pants were... Well, I guess you could say they were-

"SOILed." Skye snickered, "You SOILed your pants."

"I swear you have a five year old's sense of humor." Jeffrey complained.

"Thank you very MULCH."

Jeffrey squinted really hard up at the glass roof, and tried to keep his face stone like.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I went a little too far with the jokes. I'm sorry." Skye apologized meekly, "You know I blame my upbringing. I think my problem STEMS back to my childhood."

Jeffrey lost it and began to cackle. He laughed so hard he had to clutch his chest. Skye smiled on proudly, and waited until he was almost done.

"I'm just going back to my ROOTS." She deadpanned.

Jeffrey leant against the glass wall and guffawed. His laughs got more and more high-pitched, until Skye collapsed against the wall next to him and joined in. They laughed until their stomachs hurt insanely. Even then they chuckled weakly, and tried to catch their breaths. It took awhile, but eventually they trickled down into silence, until they were in a peaceful state, just staring at the rain pouring above. It was mesmerizing. The rain beating softly, the smell of all the dirt and flowers permeating. They both felt happy and content.

"Thanks for that." Jeffrey said finally, "I think I really needed a good long laugh after the concert. You know, just to unwind from it all. I was really tense up there."

Skye shrugged, slightly red. Jeffrey watched her instead of the rain for a little while, and unwittingly spaced out with a smile on his face.

"What?"

Skye was looking back at Jeffrey in a mix of confusion and hesitation. Normally, Jeffrey would have shaken himself, stammered some excuse, and then avoided Skye for the rest of the night.

"Hey, Skye? Can I say something?"

"I swear, if you tell me another boring fact about Glenn Miller or Benny Goodman.."

"I...I...Lilac you."

Skye stared at the flower in Jeffrey's hand, and then looked back at his face as if she seriously thought he was joking. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again.

"That's...not..a Lilac."

"What?" Jeffrey wasn't sure he heard correctly.

"That's not a lilac." Skye cleared her throat, "Lilacs are lots of tiny flowers all bunched together. That has a long stalk and just a cone shaped bud. That's lavender."

"You're not serious!? This is the one flower you know?! How on earth is it lilacs and lavender that you know, but not something as simple as a peony or an orch-"

Skye held out a small handful of flowers. Jeffrey paused. They were tiny, purple flowers all bunched together.

"Lilacs."

"You...stole my punchline." She said briefly.

Jeffrey looked up, wonderingly and met Skye's blue eyes.

"Wait. You don't mean...?" He asked breathlessly.

"I lilac you too." rushed Skye.

Jeffrey gave a short disbelieving laugh as he leaned closer towards Skye. She moved forward too.

"Wait." Jeffrey pulled back in realization, "We don't sell lilacs here."

"Oh, for Pete's-" Skye threw up her hands, "I picked them off a bush outside. Are we really going to talk about this right-"

Jeffrey kissed her softly. When he pulled back, heart hammering, Skye blinked slowly.

"I'm actually surprised that you came out and said that before me. I thought you'd never make a move."

"Hold on. You knew I liked you?!"

"I had my suspicions. I keep catching you staring at me, your face just lit up when you saw me at the concert, you laugh at even my dumbest jokes-though that could be just a lame sense of humor on your part..."

"Hold up!"

"Even I know they're pretty bad." Skye rolled her eyes, "I guess part of the reason I like them, is because they make you crack up."

"Awwww!"

"Don't." Skye frowned.

"You have a big crush on me too!" Jeffrey hugged her, happily.

"You're pinning my arms, and I want to punch you really bad right now." Skye complained.

"Fine. All right. Give me your best shot." Jeffrey sighed. He pulled back, held out his arms, and shut his eyes tightly, "But only just this once, because I lo- like you."

He waited, wincing, but was startled when Skye only kissed him. Jeffrey relaxed and kissed her back.

It was tentative and new, but Jeffrey felt confident. He knew it was going to be a little awkward at first, and maybe a bit rocky, but there was something more that made any fears feel tiny. This was big. It was just beginning, but he could feel it. They'd make it last.

* * *

 **Whoooo boy. I feel a little scared posting this, even though it was an idea I've been playing with for a long while. It just felt a little too choppy and a bit jumpy at points. I had too do it of course, just because um...puns. Sorry.**

 **P.S: Lilacs represent the first emotions (or BUDDING feelings, yes, I went there) of love.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: Thank you, m'lady. I'm delighted that you liked it!**

 **Readwriteedit: Hoooooly crap. Jeez, I'm flattered and ecstatic that I can manage to brighten your day at least a little. I hope this longer one shot kind of makes up for a bit of a long break. Also, don't stress about leaving reviews. Sure, I love hearing from you, but I also get you. I can have a bit of a hard time reviewing other people's stuff sometimes, because I'm not good at that sort of thing. I really don't mind. P.S, thanks for the story idea, I love it! I'll get too it eventually, I promise.**

 **To my GM: Thanks for the reviews. I love your ideas, especially the online dating one. It's got my creative juices going, and your definitely going to get that one shot at some point. I love the Claire and Turron one too, but that might take longer. We don't get hear all too much about them-** **unfortunately-so I want to come up with a solid one. As for Dominic, I can see a chapter in the future entailing that punk skater. Thanks again!**

 **Nijibrush: I'm excited that that was your favorite one shot. It thrilled me that you approved of where I went with your idea, and thanks again for that plot! I loved your personal story too, because one of my goals in life is too see how much I can expand my comfort zone. Trust me, it's hella worth it. I wouldn't be writing on here otherwise, and my life's pretty rockin' right now too. P.s: Freakin' awesome coincidence with the soccer pencil, I love it!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, Wuss. Whatcha readin'?" the bully leered over the smaller timid boy. The little boy shook a bit as he showed the older boy.

"'The Secret Garden'? What a freakin' nerd!" The bully shoved the book out of Martin's hands, then, as Martin bent over to pick up his book, the bully shoved him to the ground. Martin picked up his book, but remained on the ground clutching it to his chest.

"What's the matter, _Martian?_ " Sneered the bully, "Too scared to get up? You'd rather go back to staring at all the pretty flowers wouldn't you?"

"Hey! Stop that!" There was a flash of yellow and purple. Before Martin could make a sound of surprise, there was a small blonde girl in a purple shirt and cowboy boots standing between him and the bully. She very kindly held a hand out to Martin. He accepted it timidly, and she pulled him to his feet. She smiled a slightly toothless grin at him, her blue eyes flashing brightly. Then, she turned so fiercely on the bigger boy, he had to take a step back in surprise.

"Who do you think you are?" She placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes into a keen glare, "You should be ashamed! Pushing people smaller than you! Would you like it if I pushed you?!"

Bewildered, the bully shook his head cautiously.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now clear on out, or I'll give you what you deserve." The girl drew herself up and held a hand over the toy pistol that hung out of the holster on her hip.

The bully hesitated.

The blonde spat on the ground.

"I hate to shoot an unarmed man. All right then, let's settle this the old-fashioned way then." She tossed her pistol aside and putting her fists up she advanced on the stocky boy.

It was the first time the older boy had actually been faced with the prospect of a fight, and he felt scared at the girl's confidence. He slowly raised his own fists. Then the girl made a quick charging motion at him, swinging her right fist back as if she was going to really lay into him. The bully turned and ran.

"Yeah! You better run!" The girl called after him.

"How'd you do that?" Martin asked in shy amazement.

"You've just got to act bigger and tougher." She explained, "Act like you're in charge and they'll believe it."

"Thank you." Martin said gratefully.

"Not at all." The pretty blond girl replied cheerfully, "My name is Elizabeth. What's your's?"

"Martin Penderwick." Martin shook her hand.

"That's a rather funny last name." The girl's nose wrinkled as she pondered it, "I like it!"

"Thank you!" Martin beamed as he fixed his glasses.

"Very well, Martin Penderwick." Elizabeth waggled her eyebrows in a friendly manner, "I'm playing Cowboys and Outlaws. Do you want to join me as my sidekick?"

"If we're the Cowboys, who's the bad guys?" Martin asked sensibly.

"They're imaginary, Silly." Elizabeth ruffled his hair condescendingly fond. Martin didn't mind, he quite enjoyed it. He ducked his head bashfully, and eyed his Latin book a little regretfully, but then put it in his knapsack. After all, it wouldn't hurt to play for a few minutes. Right? He could always finish his book later.

"Alright." Martin said good-naturedly, "What's my cowboy name?"

"Deputy Penderwick of course." Elizabeth seemed surprised that he wouldn't have thought of that.

"Our first stop is the saloon." Elizabeth explained as Martin trotted obligingly after her, "There's always tons and tons of outlaws at saloons. They're always causing fights and getting into shooting matches. It's the law's duty to go up to them. Then we have showdowns right out in the street..."

* * *

"C'mon, Hound!" Batty cried in a whisper, patting the top of her bed, "You have to protect me from the ghosts while Rosalind's gone."

Martin Penderwick smiled faintly from his youngest daughter's bedroom doorway as he watched her settle down to sleep. A bittersweet memory of his own childhood, with a certain over-imaginative girl he knew then, entered his head. She and Batty would have gotten along famously.

Rosalind had gone over to her friend, Anna's house for a once in a blue moon sleepover, and Batty was worried because she didn't have her usual defender against bad dreams and monsters.

"The ghosts have terrible pointy teeth, and they attack you through your dreams." Batty explained wide-eyed to her faithful best friend, who was drooling on the blanket, "And in the middle of the night, at about eight o'clock, they come creeping and hooting into little children's rooms. And they put their icy claws on your shoulders and float inside your heads, and eat you inside out!"

Batty looked very grim and horribly frightened indeed. This was Batty's greatest fault. When her imagination took over, she had a hard time focusing on anything but the frightening things. Her fear would consume her, and the poor little creature got no rest. It was normally Rosalind or Mr. Penderwick that had to gently set her back into reality, and remind her the scary monsters weren't real, or play along and make the monsters into friends. Martin Penderwick usually went for the latter option.

"But then one day, a ghost name Bartimus decided he hated the taste of children, and began a revolt." Mr. Penderwick swept into the room and plucking up his daughter he carried her through the house as he spoke, "And Bartimus gathered up all the friendly ghosts in the world and they went into battle against the terrifying evil ghosties."

Martin dropped Batty into his own bed, Hound barked and leapt about the grown man's heels, as he acted out his story with an imaginary sword. Batty was enthralled with her father's tale. She listened with wide eyes, and cried out in alarm when it seemed as if Bartimus and his forces were losing. But in the end, Bartimus' army prevailed, and the evil ghosts either died in misery or converted to the good side.

"So there's no mean ghosts anymore?" The three year old asked as Martin climbed into bed next to her.

"No, Darling," her father tugged one of her brown curls, "Even if there was, they wouldn't stand a chance against you. You're too scary. All you have to do is stand up against them and they'll run frightened out of their minds. You're letting your imagination run too much, those ghosts aren't as tough as they seem. Understand?

"Yeah, I think so." Batty cuddled into his arms, "Goodnight, Daddy."

"Goodnight, my little Elizabeth. Sweet dreams." Martin Penderwick whispered to the toddler, and then turned off the lamp.

* * *

 **This is the start of a short series I'm writing. There'll be around three more one shots detailing moments of a young Martabeth AU with times in the future where Mr. Penderwick sees the comparisons between his late wife and their daughters. Hope you guys enjoy.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: I love the way you think. Those are fantastic ideas, and I can't wait to use them. Especially the Batty and Ben one, I really love those two, because they remind me of my imaginary games as a kid. Thank you for the review too, I'm glad you liked the last one shot.**

 **Readwriteedit: I don't know if it was that good, but thank you! I loved your review, it was very deep and meaningful. And you definitely got the theme of how Skye and Jeffrey growing together. I'm glad you loved it! Although, if anything is inspiring it's your reviews. Especially that last one.**

 **Nijibrush: I'm happy it made you laugh, and I do apologize for making you catch my Punditis, lol. To be honest, it wasn't going to be that long at first, but then one pun led to another and it just blossomed. In fact the story originated with me asking, "How can I find a way to use all my flower puns?", so I guess my dad jokes aren't as bad people make them out to be. Thank you for the positive review, I always enjoy hearing from you.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Based loosely off a prompt from KoalaLover-ABC-123, urging me to do something with Batty and Ben in it. It got a little out of hand, and I fear these two grew up on me.**

* * *

Ben scratched his red head and let out a long yawn. He had been waiting for Batty's flight for some time now. Just how long were they going to delay the plane? He sighed impatiently and settled back on the bench, his arms crossed. He hadn't seen his older sister for a good two months, and he missed her terribly. He got that she was amazingly talented on the piano, but first and foremost she was his sister. His companion in everything growing up. His best friend. And two months was too long to go without seeing her. Not to mention, he had barely gotten a glimpse of her over winter break, so technically it had been more like forever since he had gotten a decent chance to see his sister, much less talk to her. Ben was dying to talk to her.

Everything was moving so fast. Too fast. Ben had blinked and suddenly found that he was the only Penderwick left at home with his parents. Rosy was married to Tommy and they had a kid. A kid! Skye had just accepted a position at an observatory in San Francisco. She and Jeffrey still insisted that they were best friends, but Jeffrey was always flying out to see Skye, and she was always talking about all the escapades they went on in California; so, Ben guessed some things didn't change. Jane had moved out and was making it fairly well up in Maine, where she claimed the best inspiration lay. Batty was away at school... Only Ben was left and he felt lonely and not a little terrified as to where he was headed. That was why he needed Batty, she was so quietly confident and wise. She'd know what he should do. What his future would be. When he was lost, it was always Batty who found him. When he was captured by some horrible monster in their childhood games it was always Batty who had rescued him. Well, he had certainly never faced a monster as terrifying as his unknown future.

"Attention, Flight 23 has just landed at gate 6. Flight 23 has landed at gate 6."

Ben sprang up out of his seat in his eagerness, and rushed over to the gate's entrance. He held his homemade sign up over his head and waited. He was shaking, shifting in place where he stood, frustrated by how long it was taking Batty to get off her plane. And then, there she was, slowly descending the stairs that led down from the small door in the side of the plane. He saw her scanning the crowd, looking for him. Her eyes landed on the yellow and purple paper board sign with her name written on it, and then her eyes met Ben's own and he was beaming happily and waving as she hurried to reach him.

"Ben!" Batty wrapped him up in an enormous hug, "I missed you!"

Ben didn't say anything, only hugged Batty back as hard as he could. He had dropped his sign, and he no longer registered anything going around him. People rushing past were only blurs, they weren't anything. The only two things that mattered, that held any importance in Ben's world were: Batty was back, and everything was going to be all right.

...

"Congratulations on getting your license." Batty was chatting as Ben drove. He was pretty quiet, but Batty made up for it with a steady, running chitchat, making comments about how the weather differed with that of New York's, describing different experiences she had had on the Julliard campus, and laughing at something a friend had done. Truthfully, it made Ben feel a little jealous. And lonely. Batty knew exactly what she wanted with her life and she was acting on it. She was making her place in the world and existing in a bubble different from that of Ben's. He was scared and not a little hurt. Batty had grown up, and he felt like he was being written out of her story. Ben didn't feel ready to abandon their childhood games. He didn't want to move on. Why couldn't things just stay the same, or at least freeze and give him a little time?

"What about you?" Batty asked, interrupting Ben's depressive thoughts, "How's school going? And that job of your's?"

Ben worked at a fast food restaurant, it was a huge drag. School? Frankly, Ben did well enough, but there was no passion there.

"It's fine." he shrugged, "Same old. Nothing big."

Batty gave him a long studying look, but Ben only gave her a reassuring smile, and turned to the radio for an escape.

"Hey, I made a mix cd for you! It's got all your old favorites on-"

"Ben, what's up?" Batty saw right through his act. Ben decided acting as if nothing was wrong was another thing he could add to his list of stuff he wasn't good at it.

It was Batty, his best friend and closest sister, but still Ben hesitated.

"Is there something wrong?" She insisted.

"No. Well kinda...Nothing big that is...I suppose that's what the problem is." He snorted to himself.

"I don't follow, Ben, you need to be more concise."

"Exactly! That's it!" Ben exclaimed, "I don't know what I mean. I don't know what it is I want, Batty. Everybody keeps pushing and pushing for me to find something, to figure out what it is I'm going to do with my life. They all expect me to be just like you, Rosy, Skye, or Jane. They think I should know exactly what I'm going to end up doing, but I'm just Ben! I don't know what I like, I have no idea what I'm good at. I have no passion. I just want things to stay as they are. I want to be a kid again, just mucking around in the woods pretending I'm battling dragons or the last of the ogres."

Batty listened thoughtfully. She didn't seem to notice how rambling and scattering Ben's ranting was. She, by all appearances, was following along closely and understood him clearly.

"Okay." She said finally.

"What?" Ben was crestfallen. Was that all she had to say? He had been expecting a jolt of enlightenment, that Batty would just point out what he was good at and tell him what he needed to do.

"Okay, let's muck around in the forest and finish off those ogres once and for all." She flashed him a smile, "As soon as I'm done catching up with everyone at home, let's sneak off to the woods like old times."

"Are you sure?" Ben perked up slightly, "You don't think we're too old for that?"

"You're never too old to be humanity's last hope against the threat of the evil and dark forces." Batty laughed merrily.

Ben felt happy and excited all in an instant. He felt like a hopeful little kid again. He knew Batty would make everything all right, even if it was just a temporary fix.

...

"All right..." Ben adjusted his camera on the tripod, making sure to capture his entire- and very large- family in the frame. He had put his mother and father in the center of the couch, Rosy and Tommy were on their right holding Nick, their nine month old son. On the left of Mr. Penderwick and Iantha, he had- quite slyly- put Jeffrey and Skye together and they were busy trying to look not embarrassed or tense by that fact. Jane sat on the armrest next to Jeffrey, doing her best to take up as much room as possible and push him closer to Skye. Batty was on the other armrest, laughing as she watched the rest of her family try to get settled.

"Okay!" Ben pushed a button and ran forward to take his place at his mother and father's feet on the floor, "Everybody smile!"

Inwardly, Ben counted down the seconds before the flash would go off.

Four...three...two...one. Ben grinned his biggest smile, and the camera went off exactly as timed, capturing yet another Penderwick moment.

"Keep smiling!" He ordered, "It's going to take four more, and, yes, I'm talking to you, Skye."

Skye groaned, and everyone laughed. Jeffrey laughed the hardest, which made Skye dig an elbow into his ribs. That one turned out to be Ben's favorite picture out the mix.

Skye was predictably the first one to jump up after the photo op, hauling both Jeffrey and Jane up at the same time.

"C'mon, I've had enough smiling for one day."

"Yeah, two whole minutes of smiling. Got to be a record for you, Skye." Jeffrey joked, trying to not look flustered by the short contact he had had, holding Skye's hand when she had pulled him to his feet.

"Ha-ha." Skye made a face at him. Jeffrey made one back, " Let's go, people. It's time for a good old-fashioned soccer massacre."

"I'm out." Rosalind said, "Nick's got to take a nap."

"Tommy? Batty? Ben?" Skye raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Me and Ben are going to go hang out in the woods." Batty refused. Ben flashed a grin from where he was looking through his camera.

"I'll play." Tommy got up cracking his shoulders, "Dibs on Jane."

"You can't call dibs on a pers-"

"Great idea!" Jane cut Skye off brightly, "Me and Thomas against you and Jeffery!"

As much as Ben was curious as to how that discussion was going to end up, he was more excited that he and Batty could finally run off. So, he quickly threw his camera around his neck and wasted no time in tugging Batty away from getting too caught up in watching the ensuing soccer match.

...

"On your left, Sir Benjamin!" Batty cried out in alarm.

Ben swung around hurriedly and brought up his "sword", just in time to block the imaginary cudgel an ogre had swung at him.

"My gratitudes, Lady Elizabeth." He panted as they went into a back to back formation and swept about cautiously with their sticks.

"There's a lot more ogres than I remember there being." Batty said.

"They must have been amassing an army while we were away." Ben agreed, "I don't know if we'll make it out of this fight alive."

"Well, there's nobody else I'd rather die next to than you, Brother." Batty told him sentimentally.

"Or I you, Sister." Ben was equally dramatic. He lashed out with his sword, fervently swiping back and forth blindly. Batty had to laugh at his vigorous writhing and lunging. Nothing looked less knight-like then Ben with his rumpled sweater-vest and his dress-shirt's tails hanging out, instead of being tucked in. His red hair stuck to his head from the sweat, and he was panting from their wild exertions, but he looked happy and relaxed, much better than the tight-nerved and stressed version of himself he had been in the car.

Truth be told, Batty had been stalling when she had suggested their old games, but it had turned out to be just what Ben needed, at least for the present. Batty didn't know how to help her younger brother/ best friend. She didn't know what to tell him. She had been lucky, she had found what she had wanted to do at a pretty young age, thanks to Jeffrey and Alec. She wished she could be their level of inspiring.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Ben grabbed Batty's arm quickly, "Shhhhhhhh! Shhhhhhh! Look! Look!"

"What? What is it?" Batty squinted where he was pointing, but it was getting dark and she could make out nothing exciting about the tree Ben was pointing at. It was just an old tree.

"Look!" Ben insisted, grabbing his camera and slinging it around his neck, "It's him! Over on the branch! Shhhh!"

Batty peered more closely, now that Ben was pointing out a specific branch, and at last she saw it. A flick of a whiskered nose, and a bushy tail whipping about as a lean red squirrel leaped off a branch and jumped onto another tree.

"C'mon! I've been trying to find this guy for days!" Ben scurried off so quickly, that he could have been mistaken for a squirrel too. Batty hurried after her brother, trying to be as quiet as him, but after he told her to keep the noise down three more times, she gave up and decided to stand still and watch from a distance. Ben crept through the woods with all the stealth and grace of a ninja, his camera held at the ready.

The squirrel had paused momentarily on a branch, Batty could just make him out in the dimming early spring light. She saw Ben trying to find a good spot from where he was standing to take the picture, but he appeared too fussy about the lighting or the angle, because he finally turned to the side and began to climb a tree ten feet away from the squirrel's. Batty watched, enthralled as her brother slowly lifted himself up the tree and finally paused on a what was left of a broken branch. Then, leaning out recklessly far, he held onto the tree with one hand and held his camera out with the other. Batty held her breath, as the ruddy red squirrel twitched and jerkily stared at the equally red-headed boy, Ben slowly adjusted his camera and held it up to his face. The flash went off, and the squirrel fled.

Batty watched as Ben quickly studied his camera, not even caring about how dangerously far he was still hanging out, just worried that he didn't get a good shot. Ben let out a rejoicing whoop at last, and scurried back down the tree, cradling his camera safely with one hand.

"I got it! I got it!" He cheered, jumping and raising a fist triumphantly. "I knew I'd get a picture of that wily fellow! I've been after him so long!"

Batty smiled at his enthusiasm. She was happy for him, but couldn't quite understand why he would try so hard for just a picture.

"Look at it! It's just, the lighting was perfect and everything!" Ben showed her, still bouncing around joyously, so that Batty had to reach out and hold the camera steady so she could see it better. What she saw impressed her. The Squirrel's fur glowed in the orange light from the setting sun. Its eyes stared out the picture inquisitively, its tail was raised poofily; so, the light had accentuated each hair, and made it seem almost on fire.

"Wow! This is really good!" Batty was stunned, "How long have you been taking pictures like this, Ben?"

"Hmm?" Ben was absentminded as he studied his camera, "No, not long. It's just something I do when I'm bored."

Batty was incredulous as he just waved a hand dismissively.

"Ben, it's like really good! You should do something with it."

Ben laughed at the idea.

"What? No, it's just a little hobby. I could never get that caught up in it."

"Are you serious?" Batty grabbed his shoulders and turned him around indignantly. She just barely resisted the urge to shake him, "You just went to all that trouble to take a picture of a squirrel!"

"A red squirrel." Ben corrected.

"Look, you were asking me what you should do, telling me you had no passion. This is your passion, Ben! I've never seen you get so worked about anything since you were ten!"

"Maybe, but it's just photography, Batty. I just started doing it, randomly, because nobody else in the family was really taking pictures. Except, Mom, and you've seen all the red eyes in those pictures." Ben shuddered, "It's nothing I could pursue. It's not something I could use for a real career, for a real future."

"Ben, you're only eighteen! You don't have to worry about a career yet." Batty shook her head, "If you over stress about it, you're going to make bad college choices and probably switch majors or something. That in itself can screw you, it's happened to some of my friends. You wanted my advice, right? Well here it is: take a year or so off when you graduate, and try to find a whole bunch of stuff you like doing. Try brand new things, experiment more with the photography too! You have, like insane potential right there!"

"I don't know..." Ben scratched his neck, uncertainly, "I'm really not a risk-taker, Batty. I don't like spontaneity. I like steady."

"Ben, you just ran after a squirrel and dangled twenty feet over the ground with one hand."

Ben shrugged.

"Just think about." Batty patted his shoulders, "That's all I ask, don't be in a hurry to make a decision that you have no idea how to make."

Ben didn't answer, but he followed her back to the house thoughtfully.

...

"So do you think ogres are scared of water?" Ben asked as they reached the Penderwick house, "Because I think they are. They're always filthy and muddy and smelly. And if they are terrified of water, next time we can just corner them into the brook. We should be able to finish them there."

"No way. What are you a novice?" Batty scoffed at the idea, "They're not at all scared of water."

"Why not?" Ben demanded, pushing his sleeves up messily as he walked backwards, "I think it's a logical-"

"Hey, Ben!"

Ben spun about, startled by the clear, chipper voice that had called his name. It belonged to a slender brown-haired girl standing with an easel on the back porch of the house next to the Penderwick's. Ben had told Batty that the Winston's had moved, but he hadn't said anything about who had moved in, which was odd considering how much he was blushing at the sight of the girl in paint-spattered overalls and a messy bun.

"Oh, hi, Carrie!" Ben waved back while trying to brush dirt off of himself at the same time. Batty plucked a few twigs out of his hair for him, "Carrie, this is my sister Batty. Batty, this is Carrie. She lives next door.

"No!" Batty whispered to Ben, feigning pretend surprise at his obvious statement. Ben stepped on her foot lightly.

"Nice to meet you." Batty advanced towards the other house's porch, her hand held out friendly.

"Oh, I don't recommend that." Carrie held up her paint-smeared hands, "I've got water-colors all over me."

"It's really not an issue." Batty assured her, so Carrie shook her hand warmly. Ben stood awkwardly behind Batty, and pulled bark off of his vest.

"So, family reunion, huh?" Carrie asked, "I was curious about all those people chasing each other in your backyard."

"Sorry." Ben apologized, "They weren't too noisy were they?"

"They were really nice." Carrie told him, "They all said hello. One of them said I was the perfect image of an artist, and I think she started reciting a poem."

"Jane." Batty and Ben said in joint confirmation.

"Then the other girl told her to focus, and started to tackle one of the boys when he ran by with a soccerball."

"Skye." Batty nodded knowingly.

"I couldn't tell if they were playing soccer or football." Carrie laughed, "The curly-haired boy couldn't tell either, I think, because he kept picking the ball up and yelling, "Tommy! Go long!"

"Jeffrey." Ben told her in way of an explanation.

"It was pretty funny to watch." Carrie informed them, "What about you two? Not the soccer or football type?"

"No, we were just fooling around in the woods." Ben fidgeted with his camera strap, "We used to play around in there all the time as kids."

"Which reminds me. Let me ask you something to settle an argument." Batty's eyes twinkled, "Do you think ogres are scared of water?"

Carrie didn't seem taken aback by the question, something that made Batty respect her. She considered Batty's question with care.

"I've got to say no." Carrie decided, "I mean they're like cousins to trolls, right? And trolls are notorious for hiding under bridges. Plus, they hide out in those slimy, damp caves. There's all kinds of moving bodies of waters in caves."

Batty shot Ben a look of triumph.

"Okay, when it's put like that, I can understand it." Ben mumbled grudgingly.

"Why? Did you find some out in the woods?" Carrie asked, amused.

"No reason." Ben said embarrassed.

"Why? Have you seen some?" Batty joked back, enjoying how flustered Ben was getting.

"Ogres? No. But sometimes right after dawn, or moments before the last rays of the sun go out, the light catches just right and you can see the fairies scattering to hide." Carrie winked, turning her easel around to show Batty, "It's why I use water colors. They depict fairies the best."

It was a beautiful painting, with all the bright shades of a spring sunset. Pink and purple and turquoise flashes popped out in the golden-orange of a sun no longer visible except for a few flashes that were showing through the thick cluster of trees at the edge of the Penderwick's yard. The fairies were little butterfly smears darting across the surface of Carrie's painting.

"Your backyard is a natural fairy habitat." Carrie told them with a smile as she wiped her hands off with a paint-stained rag.

"It's beautiful." Ben told her in an awed voice. Carrie's ears turned pink at his praise.

"It's a masterpiece." Batty agreed, "Do you display your art, or sell it?"

"As of so far, the only ones who are willing to buy my art are my grandparents." Carrie laughed at the idea, "And they get my paintings for free. There's going to be an art display at the high school at the end of school,though. This is my entry into the display. They're going to have watercolors, sculptures, oils, graphic designing, photography...you name it."

"Photography? You don't say." Batty nudged Ben, "When's the cut-off date for entries?"

"Oh, ten days. Plenty of time." Carrie told her, patting her pockets, "I think I have a sheet some- Oh, here! It's the flyer for it."

Carrie handed Batty the folded piece of paper.

"You should really come to the show, if you're in the area still." Carrie encouraged.

"I'll definitely try to, if Ben decides to enter." Batty turned to Ben.

Ben's eyes widened as he was put in the spot.

"W-what?" He laughed nervously.

"That's a great idea!" Carrie beamed, "You're always carrying around that camera, Ben. I bet you have some great pictures on there. Did you find that squirrel that I told you about, yet?"

"Yes! I did!" Ben's face lit up, "We saw it while we were out in the woods, I just managed to snag the perfect angle and lighting too! Let me show you!"

Ben pulled his camera off excitedly, and turned it on to show Carrie. Batty watched him with a happy smile as he and Carrie exchanged excitement over his perfect shot. She backed away, leaving the two alone without either one noticing.

Batty paused at the Penderwick's back door, and felt a wave of bitter nostalgia pass over her. In the gathering dark she could have sworn that she saw not fairies, but two children running around in excitement, chasing a large drooling dog about. Batty smiled fondly at the image, before looking at the present one. She missed her old companion in adventures, but it was time he found someone else to start new ones. She had known they wouldn't always be involved in each other's schemes. It was the same with her sisters. They were all still close, but now they shared different kinds of adventures with someone else. Rosy had Tommy in the wild and crazy journey of starting a family, Skye still had her Jeffrey to keep her from growing reclusive, abrasive, and too routine, Jane had three cats and an interesting suitor named Glenn, Batty had her own group of friends back at school that were always busy drawing her more and more out of her shell. Ben needed someone to help push him out of his comfort zone, but also encourage his energy. Batty had a feeling Carrie would do more than that.

Batty Penderwick inhaled the chilled night air and several other memories deeply. Then, she went inside.

* * *

 **So, this was very late. Sorry about that, I kinda went through one of my fanfiction depressions where I was working only on my own original stories and drawing stuff, but now I'm back in the game. To be honest, I'm kind of jumpy about posting this one shot, just because it's not exactly like my other pieces and I had to speculate a lot. That said, I really did enjoy writing about an older Ben, if you guys liked this version at all I might consider writing more of him. As always, feel free to send in more prompts, thank you so much for the ones you have given me so far, and thanks for reading.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, and as you can see I was inspired to go forth with a Batty and Ben one shot. I'm sorry if it's not quite what you expected, but I was trying for a different approach to these two. As for you eagerness concerning something with Rosy and Skye at a young age, I actually have a short part of something like that planned for the chapter concerning Skye and Mr. Penderwick. I'm definitely going to do a one shot on our two favorite older Penderwicks at some point now though, so thanks for the suggestion!**

 **GM01: Great to hear from you as always! I love the name, because you'll always be my no. 1 GM! Seriously, though thanks for the feedback I'm glad you liked those one shots.**

 **Readwriteedit: Thanks! I've been planning the Mr. Penderwick storyline for awhile, just because he doesn't get as much love as he deserves. I also figured Mrs. Penderwick should get more of a chance to shine, considering how much her daughters love her. Sorry, to hear about your foot, but if you look at my reviews for this story, you'll see that Nijibrush reviewed your review because she liked it so much.**

 **Nijibrush: Thank you. It's probably getting pretty old to hear how much your reviews make me smile, but I don't care. I'm delighted you like my dive into Mr. Penderwick's relationships with his daughters. Thanks for your encouragement to me at the end of your own story, you're what pushed me to break my dry spell, thank you so much for that!**


	7. Chapter 7

"Ithn't it thunny how, like...the world...jutht...You know?" Jeffrey waved his hands.

"I'm not sure I do, Mr. Tifton." the nurse replied dryly as she guided him over to where Skye was sitting.

"How'd it go?" She asked getting up, "Did you have a hard time fixing his tooth?"

"I theel thine!" Jeffrey beamed.

"It was simple enough. Dr. Rob was able to get in just fine and remove all the shattered pieces. He's going to have a sore mouth all week and you've got to make sure he doesn't exert himself so that dry rot doesn't set in, but he should be just fine. He's hopped on painkillers at the moment; so, he'll be rather loopy for awhile, but, well, you could see that."

"Trust me, this actually isn't too far off from his regular self." Skye rolled her eyes and stopped Jeffrey from sticking his fingers in his mouth.

"He's got gauze in there right now, here's some more so you can change it later. The bleeding should only last forty-eight hours at the most. And this is his prescription for penicillin and the rest of his pain meds. You're in charge of handing them to him. He's not allowed to take it for himself, even though there shouldn't be enough there to get him addicted." The nurse instructed, "And that's it. You're free to go, Mr. Tifton. Next time be more careful when you're eating gummies."

"I told him he should drink milk and orange juice more often." Skye said, "He never listens though."

"Gummies! Can I hath gummies!" Jeffrey perked up when he heard his favorite candy mentioned.

"No gummies for you, Mr. Tifton. You'll have to stick to soft foods for now. Try applesauce and pudding for now." The nurse ordered sternly, "Do you need help walking him out?"

"Please. He's dragging his feet."

"No! I'm walkthing!" Jeffrey insisted, letting his feet dangle as the nurse and Skye led him out the exit, "Theep up, guyths!"

"We're trying. You're just way too fast for us." Skye told him sarcastically as she opened the passenger side of her car. She and the nurse had a hard time getting Jeffrey in, because he couldn't remember how to duck. When he finally did remember, he just lay horizontal over the seat instead of sitting on it. Skye had to turn him over and shove his feet in, while the nurse hurriedly buckled him before he toppled over.

"Thank you." Skye waved apologetically as the nurse walked away grumbling and rubbing her back. Skye glared at Jeffrey, but he only blinked back in puzzlement; so, she only sighed and shifted the car into reverse. Jeffrey flung his arms out at the movement.

"Whoa! We're going weally fast!" He cried.

"We're going all of three miles an hour, Tifton." Skye said patiently as she pulled Jeffrey's hand off of her shoulder and looked backwards as she pulled out.

"Three mwiles!" Spit flew from Jeffrey's mouth at his exclamation, "Are you crathy?! You'll bwe arrethted for spweeding!"

"Here's an idea. Why don't I just accelerate to thirty miles per hour, so that I'm undetectable on the police's radar?"

"I wike your thwinking." Jeffrey nodded energetically.

"I'm so glad."

Skye was even gladder when Jeffrey turned on the radio, because the music distracted him from talking and she was able to get all the way onto the highway before he opened his mouth.

"I wove this song!" Jeffrey gasped and clutched at Skye's arm in his excitement. Skye started and pulled his hand off.

"I'm trying to drive, Dork." She scolded.

"Cawse, Baby, you're a fwirework! Come on thow em what you're woth!" Jeffrey sang at the top of his lungs.

"Jeffrey, that's not this song." Skye groaned.

"Iths not?" Jeffrey frowned, "I thwink I know muthic, Skye."

"I'm sure of it, Jeffrey. This is a classical piece. Remember? You turned the radio onto to classical on the way to the dentist?"

"No? I donth rememwer?" Jeffrey squinted in confusion, his whole head cocking to the side. Skye laughed at that. He looked a little adorable with his cheeks all swollen like a chipmunks. Of course she'd never tell him that though.

Jeffrey smiled back at her, happy that he was the cause of her laughing. Jeffrey felt very drowsy and dim, and the closed space of the car wasn't helping, but he also felt a twist in his stomach that wasn't due to the effects of his painkillers. It was Skye. He had been in love with her longer than he could remember, and yet, he had never done anything about it, because he was too scared of being rejected. Right then though, probably because he was so out of it, Jeffrey began to feel bolder and more determined. Quite suddenly, he felt impatient. Impatient with himself for having never said anything of his feelings. Why had he been such a coward? Especially now that he was realizing for the first time how blue Skye's eyes were.

How long had they been friends? Jeffrey struggled to add up the numbers in his head, but all he got was the fact that it had been a very long time. It was about time he said something, he should just go ahead while he was feeling brave.

"Skye?"

Skye turned to see Jeffrey staring at her with strong focus.

"What?" Skye asked nonchalantly, picking up her travel mug to take a drink.

"Skye, I haf somfing to tell you. Somfing I should haf said long ago." Jeffrey said solemnly.

"Hmm." Skye hummed carelessly as she took a drink.

"I'm in lofe wif you." Jeffrey said bravely.

Skye spewed her drink all over the steering wheel in her shock at his sudden announcement.

"What?!"

"I'm in lofe wif you." Jeffrey repeated, his stomach sinking at her reaction. "Ife been in lofe wif you for longer fan I can rememwer. I hafent ever said anyfing because I'm too scared to ruin what we hafe."

"Jeffrey-"

"No! Let me finif!" Jeffrey insisted, "I lofe you so much it hurtfs, Skye Pewnderwick. I can't stopf finking about you! I'm thorry if you didn't want to hear that, but I shouldf told you longer ago. I understwand if you don't feel the same, and if you juft want to ftay friends, I understwand and I'll be happy to oblige."

Skye had pulled over during his long lisping speech, and was staring at Jeffrey with a strange expression that Jeffrey couldn't read. Then, she began to laugh. Skye laughed long and hard, and it was like something out of Jeffrey's worst nightmare. He could feel his heart breaking and he felt as if he was going to cry, but he did his upmost to not break down.

"I see." He said downtrodden, "Forry, the idea is fo hilariouf to you-"

"Dork!" Skye wheezed, still laughing, "You utterly, humongous, dork!"

Jeffrey hadn't expected that. He had expected Skye to be furious, uncomfortable, or even just hesitant. Not this laughing, fond name-calling that he was getting.

"What?" Jeffrey asked confused, "What's fo funny?"

Skye cackled.

"You dork! We've been married for two years!"

* * *

 **So I've been reading a lot of O'Henry's works lately, and of course I felt the urge to do something with a plot-twist ending. I know this one-shot is rather on the short side, but I do hope you enjoyed it. Have a lovely Saturday folks.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: Thank you for that delightful review, it made me very happy that you liked the one-shot, (Although, I wouldn't go so far as to call it perfection.). Thank you again for the inspiration to write it, I really enjoyed myself. To be honest, I can't blame my long disappearance on anything but laziness and procrastination, but I'm trying to get back in the game now.**

 **GM01: Thanks! I could never leave Ben sad, I have way too much of a fondness for him now, you might begin to find him popping up more often now. Yeah, I'm still here, not dead yet; though, I feel that if I did die my ghost would still review Nijibrush's works, so you might not want to take that as evidence that I'm still alive. :)**

 **Nijibrush: Thank you for the gold star, I'm glad you liked the story. Ben was kind of based off my own feelings too, I think we can all relate to feeling lost in our lives. I had to approach the idea from the point of: "If I had the Penderwick girls as sisters, how would I feel?" It was surprisingly easy after that. Kinda kicking myself for not thinking like that in the first place, because the story would have been written sooner. Thank you for your constant support.**


	8. Chapter 8

"Martin! You can't possibly be thinking about going out like that!"

Martin jumped guiltily. He didn't know why he felt guilty, it was the tone Elizabeth had used when she had exclaimed. Like he should feel guilty.

"What?" He asked, fixing his glasses timidly.

"Your tie!" Elizabeth marched over with a tsk, "It's all knotted. Now hold still and let me fix it."

Martin obeyed, watching her rather dissappointedly as she swiftly untied his admittedly pathetic attempts. Then, she began to smoothly perform all the necessary passes and loops, talking steadily the whole time.

"Remember to hold the passenger door open for her. Don't forget to compliment how she looks, and remember to try to make conversation. Avoid talking about the Latin origins of the corsage you're giving her, got it?"

Martin only nodded.

Sometimes, he despised how kind-hearted and...and...motherly Elizabeth could be. He had wanted to take _her_ to the prom, not Molly Cooper. He still resented Molly for asking him, and with Elizabeth present. There was no way Elizabeth would have let him refuse Molly's ask. In fact, she had practically answered for him, jabbing him in the ribs and insisting that it was a wonderful idea because Martin hadn't asked anyone else. When she said it like that, Martin couldn't very well retort that it was because he had been intending on asking her. All he could do was accept Molly's offer and listen dazed as Elizabeth made all the arrangements for him. She arranged the time he would pick Molly up, helped him get a corsage, and even picked out his suit for him.

You can't blame Martin for being a little sour. Why did Elizabeth have to be so conscientious and...amazing and perfect?

"Perfect." Lizzy gave Martin's tie one last tug, "You're all set now. Got the corsage?"

Martin lifted the pink flowered corsage in reply.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Martin asked almost beggingly.

"Of course not." Elizabeth said laughing, though she did give him a sympathetic look, "You couldn't pay me to be a third wheel. Besides if I did go, you would ignore Molly and only talk to me like you always do."

"I still can't believe nobody asked you!" Martin was a bit grateful no one had, but also indignant, because who wouldn't want to take Elizabeth? She was divinely beautiful!

Elizabeth fell into an uncomfortable silence and glanced to the side.

"What is it?"

"Well... Maybe one or two boys did ask." She paused, and then amended her statement, "Well five did, but it doesn't matter. I told you I just don't feel like going."

"I don't feel like going either, but it's prom we're talking about!"

Elizabeth only smiled, it was a little condescending.

"You're just nervous." She patted his shoulder, "You'll do fine, just remember those dancing steps I showed you."

Martin sighed, but bit his tongue from saying anything stupid.

/

"Do you want to dance?" He mumbled to Molly.

"No, thank you, Martin." Molly said graciously. So they both stood there kind of awkwardly. Martin felt miserable, this was not how he had wanted his prom to go.

When he could stand the awkwardness no longer, Martin excused himself and volunteered to get them both punch. He was gone only five minutes, but as soon as he turned around to head back to Molly, she was already gone. There she was, dancing with Mike, her ex-boyfriend.

Martin understood right away. He had been used, just so Molly could get stupid Mike back. He should have been furious, upset, he should have been offended. Instead, he was already running out the door, a big smile on his face.

/

Elizabeth lifted her head in surprise from the book she was perusing. Someone was pounding almost frantically at the door. She ran to it, motivated by the knocker's urgency. She threw it open and was taken aback by Martin's presence. He was panting, his suit was rumpled, and his hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat.

"Martin! What on earth are you doing here?" Elizabeth was alarmed, "Is something wrong? Where's Molly? Are you alright?"

Always thinking responsibly.

"She ditched me for Mike." Martin shook his head, huffing.

"The nerve!" Elizabeth's brilliant blue eyes flashed, "How dare she!? After all that work you put in too!"

"I don't mind." Martin shook his head with a grin.

"Did you run from the school all the way here?" Elizabeth's eyes widened in realization. Martin only nodded his head.

"Get inside. You need something to drink, otherwise you'll be dehydrated. Take that jacket off too, so you don't ruin it. And loosen your tie." Elizabeth fussed over him, but Martin didn't budge. For once in his life he was going to be stubborn.

"No. I came to ask you, Lizzy, will you go to prom with me?"

Elizabeth's face of bewilderment dissolved into a smile. Only it wasn't a condescending one this time, it was a happy smile.

"I don't have a dress."

"Who cares? I think you look good enough without one, and I'll leave my jacket and tie, so I'm not so formal. C'mon, don't make me the sixth boy you refuse." Martin clasped his fingers together pleadingly.

Elizabeth laughed.

"I only refused the other five because they weren't you, Penderwick."

"Really?" Martin's face lit up, "I only took Molly because you told me to. I was going to ask you."

"Sorry, I thought you were too shy to say anything." Elizabeth winced, "And I was scared you didn't want to ask me. This way, I knew I had an excuse to why you didn't ask me, so I wouldn't be disappointed."

"Well I am asking you. Right now." Martin said firmly, and held out his hand questioningly.

Elizabeth took it.

...

"Jane, no! Put down those scissors." Rosy hurried across the room and snatched the dangerous object out of her little sister's hands.

"But, Rosy!" Jane whined, "I need to make sure they don't fall into the hands of the evil witch so she doesn't chop off Susanne's hair!"

Jane held up the doll in a plea for sympathy.

"Is the witch's name Skye, by any chance?" Rosy looked down unmoving.

"...no comment." Jane mumbled looking to the side in an attempt to look like she didn't know what Rosy was talking about.

"Why does Skye want to cut Susanne's hair?" Rosy sighed.

"She said that if put my princess stickers on her bureau one more time, she would cut all of my daughters' hair off. I know I won't be able to resist putting those stickers on her boring old dresser; so, I've got to hide everything sharp like knives and the scissors."

"All right, that's it! Skye! Get down here now!"

"Now?! I just started figuring out the more complicated and fun side of Euler's law!"

"She's not going to come down." Jane told her.

"I'm not coming down!"

''Euler sucks!" Jane shouted back.

"Take that back!" Skye came thundering down the stairs. Jane started shrieking and running around the room, Skye chasing her. Batty woke up from her nap and began to wail loudly.

"ALL RIGHT! ENOUGH!" Rosalind roared in frustration, "Skye and Jane go outside right now! Play with that soccerball Aunt Claire gave you."

"But-"

Rosalind shot her younger sister a death glare, and Skye shut up, grabbing the unused ball and her little sister like she had been ordered. She slammed the back door behind her to show her disapproval of being bossed around.

Mr. Penderwick peered from behind his office door, summoned by the loud racket. He watched his oldest daughter as she picked up the still crying Batty and tried to clean the living room and calm her baby sister at the same time. She looked tired; so, he stepped out of his office and gently took Batty off her.

"Sit down, Rosy."

"But I still have to clean up, and make sure supper is all set, and-"

"Sit."

Rosalind sat down unwillingly, watching as her father paced back and forth rocking his youngest daughter back to sleep. She was fidgeting and looked restless.

"Daddy, I really do have a lot of-"

"Shhh." Martin shook his head stubbornly.

Slowly, Batty dropped off to sleep and Martin put her back in her cradle, then he sat down next to Rosalind.

"Rosalind, you're so much like your mother. Have I ever told you that?"

Martin could tell that that was not what Rosalind had expected to hear. Her head reeled back in surprise, and then she examined him carefully to see if he was being serious. She looked like she didn't believe him.

"Everyone says Skye's like Mommy." Rosalind said softly, she sounded a little jealous, "Me, Jane, and Batty are like you."

"Maybe appearance wise, and it's true that Skye's just as fierce as your Mommy is-was. But I'm talking about inside, Rosy. Inside, you're just like Mommy. It's a good thing too, because I'd be lost without your help. But, Rosy, your Mommy had her faults too, and just like you, she used to think that everything depended on her. That she had to get everything done, and help everyone. She was so unselfish, she refused to look after her own needs and refused to let anyone help her."

Rosalind listened with a frown.

"Mommy learned that it's okay to take a break every now and then, and spend sometime on yourself. She learned that we are a team, and teams pull the work together, Rosy. You can't do all this work by yourself. I think it's high time we make some sort of schedule so that we can sort out the workload properly. So you have the free time you deserve."

"I have plenty of free time." Rosalind protested.

"When?" Marin raised an eyebrow, "You have school, homework, you've been helping Jane and Skye with their homework, you try to do all the cooking, all the major cleaning, and you look after Batty and try to uphold the peace between Skye and Jane. Do you ever find the time to just sit down and have some moments of quiet? I haven't seen Anna in awhile either, have you had time to do anything with her?"

Rosalind was silent and looked uncomfortable.

"Everyone here is capable of pitching in." Martin reprimanded, "I'm sorry I didn't step in sooner, Honey."

"You have work, and you take care of Batty while we're at school." Rosalind excused on his behalf.

"I can make more time though." Martin corrected, "And I will."

"Now, let's see...Skye is old enough to help me with the yard care, and she can be in charge of all the vacuuming, the dusting, and washing the laundry. Jane can fold the laundry, help with the dishes, and clean up any other odds and ends. I'll clean the bathroom, help take care of Batty, and make breakfast. It's the only meal I really know how to make. You can keeping helping me with the grocery shopping, you'll have to keep making supper and lunch, and generally making sure this household runs smoothly, by covering anything I might have forgotten." Martin wrote everything down on a sheet of notepaper and stuck it to the refrigerator with a lopsided magnet that Jane had made in Kindergarten, "It's settled."

"But-"

"It's Penderwick Law now." Martin said firmly, "See? I gave my signature at the bottom."

Rosalind hesitated, but gave in with a nod after she saw there was no way of wriggling out.

"Good." Martin gathered up his oldest daughter in his arms and hugged her. Rosalind hugged him back tightly, and it was a few moments before Martin realized that she was sobbing against him.

"Rosy?" Martin pulled back and wiped some tears from her eyes. "What's the matter?"

"I..." Rosalind faltered, and then wailed it all out, "I miss Mommy!"

Rosalind reburied her face in her father's shoulder, and Martin did his best to comfort her with little shushing noises and hair pats. When he glanced up it was to find Jane and Skye watching the two of them with horrified expressions. They had seen Roslaind's outburst.

Jane burst into tears and ran over to her father and sister to join in on the hug. Skye looked distraught, but she wasn't crying. Yet. She walked more slowly over to them, her fists clenched and a scowl on her face. She stopped next to Rosalind and awkwardly, painfully, reached up. She paused though, and Martin saw pain flash over Skye's face, before she merely patted Rosalind's shoulder and then ran out of the house. Martin wanted to run after her, but Rosalind and Jane needed him more at that present moment. He'd talk to her later.

"It's all right, my daughters." Martin rocked Jane and Rosalind back and forth soothingly, "I know, I know. I miss her too."

...

They were all weak after their long bout of tears, but also feeling alot better after getting everything into the open air. Except Skye, she came back looking edgy and defiant, but Martin knew if he confronted her she'd grow defensive. She didn't like to be seen as weak.

Martin was glad he had gotten through to Roslalind, she was already looking less harried and more her sensible and practical self as she bustled around the kitchen getting supper ready, and scolded Jane and Skye.

"Skye! Get your shoes off that chair, and drink some water, you're looking very red and you don't want to get dehydrated!"

Rosalind's fussy words brought Martin back to the past with a jolt and he felt a bittersweet tug at his heart. It was almost as if he could see Elizabeth scolding him exasperatedly instead of Rosalind reprimanding her sister, and Martin tilted his head back to stare upwards with a smile.

Thank God, Elizabeth had left him Rosalind. Where would he be without her?

...

 **Thanks to GM01 for checking up with me to make sure I hadn't died, and helping me decide what to write. Here's another chapter starring Martin, I really do love the Penderwick sisters' father, you know he's doing something right if he's raising those four rowdy girls.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: Glad you liked that little one-shot, I had fun writing it.**

 **Gm01: Thanks for summoning me from my grave of procastination, I can find it hard to get motivated sometimes, and your push definitely helped out. Thanks for helping me decide what to upload too, I was so indecisive it was killing me.**

 **Readwriteedit:Thanks! I love it when you tell me that I made you smile, it makes my day.**

 **Nijibrush: I'm delighted that you didn't see the ending coming, and I'm happy you thought it was a good idea. And yeah, as soon as I thought of the whole, 'one of my otp gets their teeth pulled and has to be put on drugs' I knew it could only be Jeffrey. Poor guy, I do put him through a whole lot.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Kudos to Readwriteedit for her story prompt. There's a little homage to one of her stories in here, see if you can find it.**

* * *

Jeffrey was shell-shocked. He was sunk, hopelessly and terribly lost. Wasn't Astronomy just supposed to be about knowing the Big Dipper apart from the Little Dipper? You know, just constellations? That's what all those trips to the Boston Science Museum's planetarium had made him think. He thought he was going to nail this class, and now he had terms like parasec and cosmology running through his head. Wasn't cosmology where you studied make-up and stuff? He should have realized that this was going to happen, this was an MIT course after all. He might have been smart and rich enough to get into MIT for music, but he was definitely not on the same level as these science and tech geniuses.

Jeffrey was so focused on trying to decipher a cryptic passage in his textbook, he didn't notice everyone else leaving the classroom, until Professor Penderwick spoke up.

"Mr. Tifton? I appreciate your dedication to Astronomy, but class is out."

Jeffrey started violently, giving himself a paper cut on the edge of his crisp notebook.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Jeffrey grew flustered and attempted to shove his class materials into his bag, it was a hard job because of the clarinet case taking up most of the bag's space. Jeffrey pulled the case out. Along with half-a-dozen pencils and a flutter of sheet music. He winced, and glanced sheepishly up at his professor, expecting her to be impatient and peeved. The slender red-headed woman merely chuckled and bent down to help him pick it up, making sure to shuffle all the loose paper into a neater pile.

"Sorry. Thank you." Jeffrey mumbled, feeling very red.

"Don't worry about it, I have a son who's a hundred times more messy than this." Professor Penderwick assured him, "So you're a musician then?"

"Yeah, I'm majoring in music." Jeffrey confirmed, "I heard the music program here is really good, and well my mother liked the idea of me attending MIT. I didn't score good enough for Harvard."

"I don't recall Astronomy fitting the required course list for Music Majors." Professor Penderwick raised an eyebrow, "Did you decide to attend because you have a passion for it?"

"Kind of. I thought a science course would be worth learning, and I remembered having fun on school field trips to the planetarium so I picked Space as my course."

"Astronomy." His professor corrected in amusement as they walked down the hall together, "How are you enjoying it so far?"

"It's... pretty cool."

"Not what you expected? It's not exactly like those little planetarium talks is it?" Professor Penderwick read his hesitance easily.

"Yeah. I'm afraid I got pretty lost back there." Jeffrey rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I really wasn't able to follow along as well as I would have liked, sorry."

"It's not your fault if you tried your hardest. Everyone has a different subject that they find hard to puzzle. For example? I once took a modern art class out of curiosity, and it was very hard for me to understand. I still don't get it, I'm afraid."

"You don't offer any special tutoring times do you?"

"I'm afraid not. Not for Astronomy 101, I already have a Astrophysics course that I teach too, and I just didn't have the time option for Astronomy." Professor Penderwick paused as she took in Jeffrey's disappointed face.

"I might have a solution for you." She said slowly, looking thoughtful, "I do know of someone who might tutor you."

"Really?" Jeffrey brightened.

"Give me a few days, I can't promise anything certain."

...

Skye only half-listened to Iantha as she taught her Astronomy class, she was working on her Physics homework, and everything Iantha was discussing, Skye had learned back in eighth grade just from all the reading she had done. She was only attending the Astronomy 101 class as a favor to Iantha and some college kid that her step-mother wanted her tutor. Skye was intrigued, not at the idea of teaching someone (She wasn't exactly the patient type), but because the school board agreed to give her an extra credit if she helped one student per semester.

Skye glanced around the classroom, idly wondering which one of Iantha's students it was that needed help. She knew it was a boy, there were twenty-four students, and sixteen of them were boys, that was two thirds of the class. Skye next focused her attention on examining each one of the boys in the room, row by row. It couldn't be the first one, he had already raised his hand and answered a question correctly; therefore, he was doing well in this class. The next boy was sleeping, couldn't be him, Iantha said that the boy in question did do his best to follow along and Iantha knew what she was talking about. The third boy caught her eye and winked at her. Skye hoped it wasn't him. If it turned out to be that boy, she'd turn down the jo-

"Pearson." Iantha said shortly, and the boy who had winked at Skye jumped, "What's Absolute Magnitude?"

"How bright a star would look if it was 32.6 lightyears away from the sun." Pearson answered promptly.

Skye almost sighed in relief. It couldn't be that guy, he knew his answers even if he did seem like a flirtatious dirtbag. So on to the next one. That guy was definitely fiddling around on his phone, and the guy next to him was doodling thoughtlessly. Skye skipped over the next two boys who were visibly ignoring Iantha and just passing notes back and forth, and instead focused on the boy behind them. He was scrutinizing his book with a squinting look of concentration. He seemed like a likely candidate judging by how intense his focus was.

The boy was tall and gangly looking, freckled and curly-haired, he seemed anxious and he was pressing down so hard with his pencil, Skye saw the tip snap. The boy hurriedly clicked the eraser of his click pencil and glanced up at Iantha's white board, his eyes caught Skye's watching him. He turned bright red and averted his gaze back to his notebook where he was jotting down Iantha's main points. Skye went back to looking over the rest of the male class, but none of them really stood out besides the twitchy boy and Skye's eyes kept returning to him. She felt certain it was him, he seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

...

Jeffrey was about to duck past Professor Penderwick and out the classroom, when she addressed him.

"Hey, Jeffrey? A moment please?"

Jeffrey did a double take and walked back to his teacher's desk, noting with curiosity the blonde girl sitting on the edge of it.

"Yes?" Jeffrey tried to not feel intimidated by the blonde, and how she blatantly scrutinized him. As if she was trying to figure out what was in his head.

"Allow me to introduce you to my stepdaughter, Skye. She goes to school here too. Skye this is Jeffrey Tifton."

Skye leaned forward and extended a hand, but she didn't get off her perch on the desk. Jeffrey shook it with a friendly smile, and nearly winced. Her grip was very strong. Skye nodded at him, but said nothing; so, Jeffrey followed her lead and just inclined his head too.

"Skye is getting her Masters in Astrophysics." Iantha explained, "So she's more than well-versed in Astronomy, and she's agreed to offer to tutor you on Tuesday nights."

Jeffrey should have figured she was the genius type, from what he had seen, she had barely paid attention to Professor Penderwick's lecture. That explained why she had been staring at him so fixedly.

"Are you free for that time?" Skye asked when Jeffrey didn't reply immediately to his Professor's introduction.

"UM...Yeah. Yes, I am free Tuesday nights." Jeffrey hastily confirmed, jumping, "It's very nice of you to agree to teach me."

Skye shrugged as if she could hardly care less whether she was doing him a favor or not.

"Fantastic!" Professor Penderwick smiled brightly, "Why don't you two go along then, and work out the details? I've got to hurry along and grade some papers while I have time."

Skye and Jeffrey obediently made their way out into the hall. Skye held the door open for him, but when Jeffrey thanked her she didn't acknowledge it. For a long space of time they only walked next to each other down the hall in awkward silence. At least it was for Jeffrey, he couldn't read Skye's mood.

"So, what time should we meet?" Skye made Jeffrey twitch.

"Uh..um..Six? Six works for me. How about you?" Jeffrey asked.

Skye thought for a moment or two, her head cocked to the side.

"Yeah. That works. I'll need your number though, just in case something pops up."

"Yeah, sure." Jeffrey pulled out a pen, and reached for her hand to scribble it down, but Skye jerked away.

"Not on my hand." She said flatly, and stopping to pull a small notebook out of her back pocket, she flipped through a few pages of equations and neatly written theories. Then, she handed it to Jeffrey. Jeffrey gave her a bit of a weird look, but scrawled his number out on the blank page with a sparkly pink gel pen. Skye made a face at the messy scribble that took up the whole page, but stuck the notebook back in her pocket without a word.

"All right. See you later." Skye nodded at Jeffrey.

"Yeah, see you." Jeffrey waved.

All Jeffrey could hope was that Skye was better at Astronomy than she was at talking to people. He felt self-conscious when she spoke to him, as if he was a waste of her time and she'd much rather be somewhere else.

...

Skye trudged towards her first tutoring session with Jeffrey. She was deep in thought, planning how they should go about with his lesson plan, or at least she was trying to. Instead, she was thinking back to their short interaction and cringing at herself. Her words kept going through her head, and they sounded robotic and choppy. Skye wasn't used to associating with anyone outside of her family, besides one or two friends. She could tell all her isolation with her books, charts, and telescopes were starting to seclude her from the rest of society more and more. Perhaps that was why Iantha offered her the tutoring job, to try to make her socialize more. Skye was inwardly groaning at the thought of talking to Jeffrey again. He seemed nice enough and he wasn't that bad-looking either, something Skye hated admitting that she had noticed, but if their study sessions were filled with awkward pauses and polite conversations Skye didn't know if she'd be able to stand them.

Perhaps Jane was right about her turning into a mad scientist.

Jeffrey was sitting at one of the tables in the library when Skye walked in, and he waved at her to make sure she had seen him. Skye drew her shoulders together resignedly and walked over. Might as well hurry up and get it over with, then she had all the free time she wanted to visit the enormous observatory and stargaze. Somehow that made Skye feel worse, knowing she could have been there right then if she didn't have this tutoring job.

"Hey." Jeffrey dumped some papers in his backpack casually, making room for Skye at his table. Skye's eye twitched, and she looked at his backpack with distaste. It was probably a disorderly pit of chaos in there. Skye liked things to be neat. "So, I'm doing homework on chapter one, lessons 1.3 and 1.4, and I'm kind of confused about where they talk about parallaxes."

"What's there to be confused about with a parallax." Skye said automatically in disbelief. She didn't mean to be rude, she was just genuinely astounded by the fact that someone would have problems understanding what in her eyes was basic Astronomy, "It's a displacement in the viewed position of a object.."

Jeffrey was watching her with a look of panicked misunderstanding. He wasn't getting a single word that Skye was saying. Skye stopped herself and made herself find a better way to explain herself without all the technical jargon.

"It's-it's like...Here, I'll show you." Skye took one of his sheets of paper and flipped it over, then she drew a circle in the middle of the paper, "This is a star, okay?"

Jeffrey nodded focusing his absolute attention on the crudely drawn circle.

"Now stars are always moving, only our eyes are too close together to see it. So we use two different points in distance to examine a star. Say two telescopes or cameras. One here and one here." Skye drew two stick figures, both at equal opposite directions of the circle; so that if you drew lines connecting the three it would have made a triangle, "Both of these people are looking at the same star, but they're looking at different parts of space behind the star." Skye drew a line from each person that intersected the circle. Then at the end of each line, behind the circle, she drew a square. "These squares are the amounts of space each person can see. Person A can't see the amount of space behind the star that B can, and vice versa. But if these two guys can get together and tell each other the amount of space each one can see they can use math to compute the total amount. With that method of measurement they can keep watching the star, and see how much the star moved between those two squares or points. A parallax is that method of measurement. We use it to see how much a star moves."

"Oh." Jeffrey blinked, "That actually makes a ton of sense."

"Yeah?" Skye was relieved and began to feel a lot more confident. She had this. "Good. What else do you have for me?"

...

Astronomy was really cool! Jeffrey found himself looking forward to each class and each tutoring session with Skye that was sure to follow. Their sessions were really interesting and kind of fun. Of course his good grades were a plus side too, but Jeffrey didn't care about them. He was learning, actually learning and it felt amazing. He knew how far away the sun was from earth. 92.96 miles. He knew that in all actuality there were stars that were even bigger than the sun. Jeffrey could hardly wrap his mind around how...big space was. He had always know it was infinite, he just had never bothered to think what that meant. Astronomy did more than explain the wonders of the universe, it showed him just how mind-boggling everything was. What were the odds for anything?! So many stars, planets, blackholes...Just the idea that humanity existed? It filled Jeffrey with awe. Everything in his life was like a piece of the universe wrapped inside him. It was so for everyone. All the factors that just went into his existence were enormous, almost impossible. What if his father had never been born, or what if his mother had died from something before he had come along? What if one of his ancestors had decided, 'Nah, I don't feeling like doing this today.' and had never met their significant other? He wouldn't exist. His whole life and personality wouldn't exist. What if he had never gone on all those school trips to the Planetarium? What if he had made it into Harvard? Or what if he had decided to take Biology instead of Astronomy? He would have never realized all these new ideas, and he'd be groaning through dissections. He'd have definitely never met Skye.

The idea of not knowing Skye, seemed bizarre, foreign. Impossible. But what was even more impossible were the odds of him ever meeting her in the first place, and it had happened. Jeffrey was obsessed with Astronomy now, and how it was involved in the events of his life. Namely his meetings with Skye. He had misjudged her when he had first met her. He felt as if she was really warming up to him, getting more comfortable. Last Tuesday she had rolled her eyes when he had made a wrong computation, and huffed in exasperation when he made up ridiculous methods other than the correct one to solve the problem.

The more relaxed Jeffrey got, the more Skye opened up too. The more Jeffrey acted as himself and not afraid to ask a stupid question, the more Skye was willing to accept and better help him. She wasn't shy, not exactly. In fact she seemed a little too abrupt and outspoken sometimes. If anything she grew upset with herself for getting overly-worked up, or accidentally making a bitterly sarcastic remark. She was very sarcastic.

"No, Jeffrey, of course that makes total sense. Just go ahead and calculate that rocket's path incorrectly and let it get burned up by the sun. That's the most practical approach, no doubt." Skye rubbed a hand over her face in frustration, "Just go on and keep dividing when you're SUPPOSED TO BE MULTIPLYING!"

"Oh, okay." Jeffrey blinked innocently, and made a show of writing his incorrect answer down, "Thanks, I thought it was the answer."

Skye groaned and slumped over the table, muttering a few choice words on how she was kill Jeffrey and dispose of his body in a gruesome manner.

"I don't think sending me through a food processor is going to hurt me at all if you've already shot me." Jeffrey chuckled and erased his faulty equation. Skye glared at him, and reburied her face in her arms. Jeffrey finished multiplying his numbers and jotted down the right number, and began to stare at Skye's head, absently twirling his pencil. He wasn't really thinking, just content to sit there and enjoy her company in the short moment of silence.

THWUMP!

Jeffrey jumped, startled out of his daze as Pearson dropped his books down loudly. Skye, remarkably, didn't even twitch. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that her own home was never quiet. Something she had complained to Jeffrey about more than once.

"Stop slamming your books. I know you're doing that to get a rise out of me, just so you can make some lame joke." Skye didn't look up or move.

"Hey, _Pearson."_ Jeffrey emphasized to Skye that they were no longer alone. Skye's shoulders stiffened, but otherwise she did nothing.

"Hey! Mind if I join your study group?" Pearson addressed Skye, "I can use the help in Astronomy."

Liar. Jeffrey bristled. Pearson got top grades in Astronomy.

"Group? What group?" Jeffrey made a dramatic point of turning his head and looking in every direction, and did his best at looking confused, "I'm the only one here. Is it my help you want? Because I mean, I'm not that good but I'll do my best!"

"I was talking to your tutor." Pearson gave Jeffrey an irritated look, "She's sitting right there."

The she in question was looking up now, and grinning. Jeffrey knew she wanted to see how far he would take this. He'd show her alright.

"Tutor?! What tutor?" Jeffrey laughed with all the casual ease of a captured soldier being interrogated by the enemy, "Sorry, Man, I don't have a tutor. I wish I did. It'd really help me out with this chapter, you know. I don't understand a word of this stuff."

Jeffrey held his textbook upside down as if to prove to Pearson just how lost he was. Skye snorted.

"No, seriously though." Pearson attempted, "You don't mind if I sit down do you?"

Skye didn't reply, and Jeffrey continued with his charade.

"Who are you talking to? No-one's sitting there, so go right ahead. Can you sit in that chair though?" Jeffrey pointed where Skye was situated, "My bag's on this chair and I really don't feel like moving it."

"Dude, will you stop that? It's not funny." Pearson was growing more and more frustrated, and Skye had begun to flick paperclips at Jeffrey's face to see if he could continue under that kind of pressure.

"I'm totally serious." Jeffrey frowned, as if insulted that Pearson thought otherwise. A paperclip hit his nose, but he ignored it and tried not to budge as he saw Skye aim another one at him, "If you want to act like there's someone else here when there's not, just leave me alone. Your little joke act is kind of annoying, and I know you're just trying to prank me or something."

Pearson grew red.

"He's going to do that the entire time." Skye spoke up for the first time, "If it annoys you I suggest you just leave."

"No, it's fine." Pearson tried to regain his cool, "I'll just sit here then?"

He bent over to move Jeffrey's backpack off the chair.

"Hey! Not cool, Man!" Jeffrey rose from his own chair in protest. "I said not to move my bag. Just sit in that seat, right there, where there's nothing on it."

That was once again Skye's chair, and because the table was positioned against the wall, the only seat left was the one that held Jeffrey's out of bounds backpack.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?" Pearson was obviously past humoring Jeffrey, "STOP BEING SUCH A SMART ALEC!"

Before Jeffrey could work in a reply to that, Skye got up from her chair.

"Hey, you don't want to deal with him than you don't get me as a tutor, got it?" Skye challenged him.

Pearson looked at her from where he was towering over Jeffrey threateningly. At six foot two and with considerable bulk, he looked like a minotaur next to the shorter scrawnier brunette. Pearson glanced back at Jeffrey, and then grabbed his own books back off the table and turned away in disgust.

"Yeah, go on and find someone who actually believes you can talk to ghosts." It was petty and stupid, and Jeffrey really shouldn't have said it, but it was too late to take it back.

Pearson dragged Jeffrey up by his shirt collar and pinning the smaller boy against the wall he punched him in the face.

...

Jeffrey was lucky, he only got a punch in the face. Pearson got a painful slam to his solar plexus, and when he doubled over from Skye's blow, she landed a solid one on his nose too. Pearson went down like a sack of flour, but Skye ignored his pained groans and the librarian running over, in favor of helping Jeffrey up.

"You okay?" Skye rolled him over, from where he was curled up cradling his eye.

Jeffrey groaned, and Skye tried to pull his hand off his face, but Jeffrey wouldn't budge.

"I got a fifty ton wrecking ball to my eye." Jeffrey wheezed, his voice strangled with pain, "Do you think I'm alright?"

"Let me look at it." Skye insisted.

"NO." But Skye persisted and managed to pull his hands down. There were a few tears pouring out of Jeffrey's eyes, though he was doing his best to grit his teeth through it.

"Were you just trying to make sure I didn't see you cry?" Skye was relieved there was nothing worse than some swelling starting up around Jeffrey's eye and nose, "Relax, I know how much it hurts, besides Pearson's blubbering like a baby, and he's only got a bloody nose and the breath knocked out of him."

Jeffrey looked up at Skye with a mixture of pain and awe.

"Only?!"

...

"Skye Penderwick?" The grizzled Police Officer called over to her bench with a grin, and Skye looked up resignedly, "We're done with you, and your step-mother's here to pick you up. Just promise that you won't go around beating everyone up and we'll be satisfied."

Skye only managed a weak smile in reply before Iantha swept her up in a hug. Just as quickly, her step-mother released her and stepped back with a stern expression. Jeffrey was behind her, and waved weakly from where he was holding a cold-compress to his swollen eye.

"How could you just punch him like that?" Iantha demanded sternly, "You know violence is not a solution."

"He punched Jeffrey first." Skye pointed out weakly.

"And that was inexcusable, but you don't retaliate in the same way. Look where that got you! What if Pearson had pressed charges?"

"I would have pressed charges against him back." Jeffrey intervened, "He knows that he's just as much on shallow ground as Skye, the only reason he's not here is because they took him to the E.R for his nose."

"Did I break it?"

"No, it's just sprained."

Skye barely avoided looking disappointed. Jeffrey seemed to read her mind though, because he grinned at her and mouthed "thank you". He didn't dare do more with Iantha standing right there and continuing her scolding. Skye tried to put her whole attention on Iantha's lecture instead of grinning back at Jeffrey. Honestly, she had been more swept up in the need to make sure Pearson didn't beat up Jeffrey worse, than she had been in avenging her friend. Though that was a bonus. She should have broken the jerk's nose for hitting Jeffrey like that.

Skye was shocked by that. Jeffrey was her friend now, it had been instinct to stand up and defend him like that. She had been worried about him, scared to death that his gangly frame hadn't been able to take the punch. Not to mention how relieved she had been when it had turned out he was alright. Skye hadn't seen it until then, but she really enjoyed their study sessions. She enjoyed being around Jeffrey, and looked forward to their Tuesday nights.

He was kind of her best friend. Nothing more of course. Absolutely not. Skye would never admit to more than that, especially to herself.

...

"Seriously? You've had it for three days." Skye rolled her eyes at Jeffrey's complaining. They had run into each other outside the cafeteria and Jeffrey had taken the opportunity to whine about his eye, "Honestly, you came off lucky. You have no idea how much flak I went under from my Dad, Iantha, and Rosy. Not to mention all Jane's questions to figure out what it feels like seeing your "enemy fall by your hand"."

"It really hurts though." Jeffrey pouted pathetically, "You should feel more sorry for me. I took the blow for you, didn't I?"

"You got punched because you couldn't keep your mouth shut. If you recall, I punched him for you. You were a little too busy collapsing in a heap and writhing in pain." Skye rolled her eyes.

"Same difference." Jeffrey waved at a friend as they walked along.

"Hey, Jeffrey! That's a real beaut!" His friend whistled at his eye as he walked back.

"You should see the other guy!" Jeffrey called back. Skye snorted.

"Because you had anything to do with it."

"Hey! I was the one who had goaded him, wasn't I?"

"Exactly. It was all your fault."

"Then I had everything to do with it!" Jeffrey beamed.

"I thought your eye hurt. You seem awful proud of yourself for being in pain."

"Owww." Jeffrey automatically put a hand over his eye, "Thanks for reminding me."

"Here. Let me look at it." Skye tilted his head up, and attempted to take his hand off.

"Haven't you put me through enough agony!?' Jeffrey said dramatically and fought her off. They struggled for a moment or two, just messing around before Jeffrey took his hand down with a sigh and inclined his head so that Skye could peer at his eye in the light.

They both froze when they realized just how close together they were standing, and how Skye was cupping his face to examine the injury. Skye pulled her hands back abruptly and they both leaped apart. Jeffrey could feel his heart pounding, and his face felt warm where Skye's hands had been. Skye turned beet red, and they both struggled to break the tension in the air.

"See you Tuesday." Skye blurted and hurried off in the opposite direction. Jeffrey stood rooted to the spot, watching the girl's back until she disappeared from sight. He staggered back until he was leaning against the wall, trying to make sense of why his breathing felt so constricted and what that feeling in his chest was.

He didn't...No. He couldn't. Could he? He wasn't...falling for Skye. Was he?

...

Jeffrey tried not to let his thoughts run with him. It definitely wasn't a date, but star-gazing on a beach? It sounded...kind of...well romantic. And Skye had said it would be after hours so the beach would be empty. It couldn't be like a...date, right? Skye was the least romantic person he'd ever met. Jeffrey reread her text message.

"Hey, you know Carson Beach? Would you like to go stargazing there Tuesday night? I know a guy, and we can get in after hours so nobody will be there."

Jeffrey hesitated, his fingers hovered over the letter pad of his phone, then he decided and made a plunge.

"Sure. What time?"

Skye texted back two minutes later.

"The usual time for our study sessions. I thought it would help you with your final."

Jeffrey had hyperventilated for no reason, and he felt kinda foolish. Why hadn't he realized it was obviously just another study date? She had stated they'd be going Tuesday, it was obvious that it could have been nothing else. Still, Jeffrey had been sensing some hesitation and awkwardness since that day in the hall. It was almost making it painful to study together, the way they avoided eye contact. Skye hadn't noticed anything had she?

...

Skye was working on setting up her telescope on the rocks of Carson Beach, and trying to avoid acknowledging Jeffrey sitting behind her watching the waves out on the shore line. It was cold. The wind swept in from the waves, and reminded them that it was barely spring and had been unusual cold of late. Skye breathed on her freezing hands, before she began to adjust the knobs on her telescope. She tilted her camouflage baseball cap way back on her head, and leaned forward to look through her telescope. She swiveled her most prized object up towards the night sky carefully.

"It's a pretty nice beach." Jeffrey cleared his throat.

Skye pulled back from her telescope to look at all the garbage, broken and seaweed crowding the sand below. Carson Beach wasn't very clean, definitely not the kind of place she'd go on vacation to. It was more the kind of beach you went to to step on a piece of broken glass and get infection. She glanced back at Jeffrey incredulously, but didn't say anything. Instead, she opted to merely shake her head and go back to her telescope.

Jeffrey tugged on his hoodie sleeves behind her, trying to cover his ungloved hands, Skye could see him out of the corner of her eye.

"Here." Skye passed him back her thermos, "That'll warm them."

Jeffrey accepted it, gladly wrapping his fingers around the thermos' heat.

"Peppermint tea?"

Skye looked back, bewildered, only to see that Jeffrey had taken a sip of her drink.

"Batty, made it for me. She makes it every time I go out to star-gaze here. It...it reminds me of my Mom." Skye revealed the last part almost without thinking. She didn't talk to people about her mom much, but Skye didn't mind Jeffrey. He didn't try to force her open.

"It's nice." Jeffrey assured her, taking another drink.

"Don't drink it all." Skye tossed back at him carelessly, making one final adjustment, "Alright, it's all set. Get over here."

Jeffrey screwed the cover back on Skye's thermos and crawled over to her obediently. Skye moved aside from the eye piece and motioned for Jeffrey to take a look.

"Try not to move it." She warned, "Do you see those three bright stars? They're Orion's belt. Got it?"

Jeffrey nodded and then pulled back.

"Alright, now I'm going to turn it a little to the South here." Skye narrated as she moved the telescope, " Just below them, that's the Orion Nebula. Can you remember what that is?"

As Skye pulled back, Jeffrey gave a little jolt, and tried to focus on her question, almost as if he hadn't been listening totally and just watching her. Skye pushed that thought out of her head, and listened to his answer.

"It's a gas cloud." Jeffrey explained as he looked up at the nebula, "There's hundreds of stars forming in there right now."

"And how are stars formed?"

"Stars are forged in extremely cold temperatures."

"Forged?" Skye interrupted

"It sounds cool." Jeffrey looked back from the telescope to grin at her, "Anyways stars form where there are large collections of dust and gas, probably why there's so many being made in the nebula right now. Anyways, in those super cold temps, the gases are turning molecular and their atoms are binding together to make a star."

"Good." Skye smiled at him. Jeffrey smiled back at her, reddened by her praise and the cold. His smile made something in Skye's stomach twist, and she quickly took control of the telescope to find something else for him to look at it.

...

Skye had run out of everything she had to show Jeffrey that had to do with his studywork, and so she just let him take control of the telescope and look for things to ask her about, passing the thermos back and forth as the time inched along.

"What's that?" Jeffrey pointed the telescope at the water, "Oh, just a log. Thought it was a dead body."

"That wouldn't be surprising to me." Skye scoffed, "Not on a beach like this. Turn the telescope back to the sky."

Jeffrey obeyed, turning it so he was looking at her.

"Hilarious." Skye said dryly.

"Ewww. I can see up your nose." Jeffrey cackled. Skye rolled her eyes and moved the telescope back towards the stars. Jeffrey looked up at all the little distant lights, made of luminous gases and dust. He really could understand Skye's passion for them. They were beautiful, intriguing, and just out of reach. Just like the girl next to him, Jeffrey realized with a smile.

"What's so funny?" Skye glared at the thermos Jeffrey had emptied.

"Nothing." Jeffrey coughed and swallowed his smile. Skye cocked a suspicious eyebrow, but didn't question him, "What's your favorite star?"

Skye was quiet for a moment, just staring up at the twinkling lights above her. Jeffrey wondered if she was ignoring him, or was too lost to have heard him.

"Polaris." She said at last, matter-of-factly, taking her telescope from him. Jeffrey could see the star without the help of the telescope easily.

"The North star?" Jeffrey had expected something more impressive from her. Something hard to find, something that could only be found at a certain time and condition.

"That's the one." Skye murmured, gesturing for him to put his eye to the lens. Jeffrey did, looking at Polaris. It was bright, beautiful, but the same as it had ever been. There had to be some reasoning behind her choice. When Jeffrey pulled back, Skye leaned forward to look at her favorite star again.

"Why Polaris?"

"It's always there. It's always been a source of direction and navigation. My Mom showed it to me." Skye stated each reason with no emphasis or inflation of tone. And she didn't move away from her star-gazing, "It's what got me hooked. That and all the math."

Jeffrey felt stunned. He wondered if he was the only one Skye had told that to. It seemed personal, and something the reclusive girl would keep close to herself. He wondered if she thought the stars were just out of reach too, but for a different reason. His hand acted without his mind telling him to, and Jeffrey rested it on top of Skye's own cold fingers clutching a knob on her scope. Skye didn't move. And they both felt frozen in time. Then, Skye let out a long shuddery breath, a puff of fog dispersing as the hot air met the cold air. Jeffrey pulled his hand back abashedly.

"...Thanks. For taking me."

"No problem." Skye began to take apart her telescope and put the pieces in their case, "I thought it'd be something nice to do for our last tutor session."

"Last?"

"Well, tomorrow is your final. You won't need me after that." Skye spoke casually, but didn't look at Jeffrey.

"Right." Jeffrey's tongue felt like lead, "Well, thank you for all your help then."

"You're welcome." Skye shrugged diffidently, "Have a good final."

There was nothing left for Jeffrey to do or say, so he slowly made his way back to his car while Skye finished packing. His head was a jumble of confused thoughts and his stomach was curling, but what was he supposed to do?

...

Skye heaved up her telescope case and picked up the thermos from where it was lying, and made her way back to where her car was parked. Lost in her thoughts, trying to piece together why she felt so empty that everything was over, Skye didn't notice at first that Jeffrey was still in the parking lot by her car.

Jeffrey cleared his throat, and Skye looked up with a start. Neither said anything at first, then Jeffrey shoved his hands in his hoodie's pockets and plunged.

"I was wondering if you'd be able to tutor me again next semester? See, I figured on taking Astronomy 102. Physics sounds like a good idea too, I think I'll take Physics. I heard Calculus and Algebra were safe bets; so, I should probably sign up for those..."

"What-what are trying to get at?" Skye's heart beat fast.

"I guess..."Jeffrey tried to form words, and then collapsed with a defeated sigh, "I want to keep seeing you."

Skye only stared at him for a moment.

"...And your first idea is to take multiple Mathematical and Astronomy classes you hate and don't technically need for your major?" Skye asked slowly.

"I thought it sounded like a good plan." Jeffrey claimed defensively.

"As opposed to maybe just asking, 'Do you want to hang out more'?" Skye pointed out. stowing her telescope in the back of her car.

"Do you want to hang out more?"

"In what way?"

"...I-I was hoping as two people dating." Jeffrey crossed his arms, trying to be as cool and collected as possible, "Unless you'd just prefer to be friends."

"I meant what did you want to do while we're hanging out?" Skye was red, "Not what you wanted to be."

Jeffrey's eyes grew large and he flushed thirty different hues of crimson. Skye didn't mean to laugh, she wasn't one to laugh at someone who was obviously embarrassed, but it was impossible to avoid. Jeffrey was so flustered and she could tell he was trying his hardest. She really appreciated the effort and it helped ease her into a fairly confident state, knowing Jeffrey was even worse at this than she was.

"When?"Skye fiddled with her keys.

"...Pardon?"

"When do you want to out on the date?"

Jeffrey went into shock for a few minutes, and scanned Skye's face for signs that she was joking.

"Uh..."

"I'm free Friday night." Skye continued, "We could always do something then."

"..."

"Or Saturday morning if you prefer."

"..."

"Well? Say something, Dork."

"I DO! I mean, yes. Cool! What time? Are you joking?" Jeffrey spouted a whole bunch of babble in the hopes that there was at least one thing of use in there.

"No, I'm not joking." Skye said seriously, "Were you?"

"No! Absolutely not. It's just.." Jeffrey struggled, "I wasn't even planning on asking you, let alone you agreeing! It just kinda...came out. I absolutely one hundred percent want to go on a date with you. Saturday works fine for me. What time?"

Jeffrey was wearing his resolute frown, the one Skye noticed he made whenever he wanted to make sure he was paying complete attention and understood what was going on.

"Eight? We could go out for breakfast."

"Breakfast sounds perfect." Jeffrey nodded. Once he started nodding, it was almost as if he couldn't stop. Skye put out a hand and stilled his bobbing head. Jeffrey smiled at her sheepishly.

"Your face is really pink." She told him, "You should probably hurry up and get out of the cold."

"It's not from the cold." Jeffrey assured her, eyeing the hand Skye still held against his face.

Skye took her hand down at his comment and tried to look as if she was unaffected by his words. Then Jeffrey grinned at her, and she couldn't stop the fluttering in her stomach, which annoyed her immensely. Skye was always fully in command of her feelings and emotions; so, why on earth did Jeffrey change all that?

"See you Saturday." Skye said sternly, more so at herself than Jeffrey.

"Yeah." Jeffrey's face dawned with unexpected happiness, as if he had only just fully grasped the fact that he and Skye were going on a date. Skye felt the same, which was probably why she had no control of her next actions and did a very unSkye-like thing.

Skye kissed Jeffrey on the cheek.

...

A parallax is a tool of measurement. Sometimes two people see two different sides of the same story. They see themselves falling for the other, but not the other falling for them until they meet in the middle and compare pictures. Then they can see how much their relationship has moved.

...

{Bonus}

Iantha walked to the front door, with a bewildered expression. Who could be knocking at Eight in the morning on a Saturday?

"Jeffrey?" To say Iantha was surprised would be an understatement, "What are you doing here? Is this about your scoring on the final? Because I already sent you your grade, and I can't change it."

"No." Jeffrey fidgeted, looking kind of embarrassed, "I'm here for-"

"He's here for me."

Iantha turned to see an equally red Skye. It took a moment, and then it clicked.

"You're going on a date." It wasn't a question it was a fact, and it made Iantha smile.

"Please don't tell Jane." Skye pleaded.

"Tell me what?" Jane stumbled into the hall, coming from upstairs. Her eyes widened at the sight of a stranger standing at the front door, "Is that a boy!?"

Skye rushed through the door, yanking Jeffrey along by his arm and shutting the door behind her.

Iantha smiled. She felt satisfied. Not that she had planned this, but it was a very welcoming development. Jeffrey was a nice boy and Skye was always talking about him, really it should have come as no shock. She was so delighted she hardly noticed Jane's barrage of excited questions.

* * *

 **In her original prompt, Readwriteedit suggested that I use the observatory that MIT and Harvard college students share. Unfortunately, it didn't work completely, because they use a radio telescope there. I know Skye would have loved teaching Jeffrey about radio telescopes (They involve huge satellites and computers), but I wanted a scene where they could stargaze with a conventional, classic telescope; so, I had to use the beach.**

 **Also, if you didn't catch it, the scene where Jeffrey is about to write his phone number on Skye's hand is a reference to Readwriteedit's "Worth It.". Please check it out if you haven't already.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: Sorry I made you cry with that last update (not really), but I'm happy you liked that. Haha, that worked out great than, how the story turned to be about Rosie, just when you were comparing Elizabeth to her. I'm glad. Sorry, I went so long without an update, thanks for welcoming me back.**

 **GM01: Well you're the one to thank for that story's update so, give yourself a solid pat on the back, Yeah, I couldn't let Martin get stuck bringing anyone but Elizabeth to the prom, but I needed to give them a little push too. I'm glad you approved.**

 **Nijibrush: You always know just how to flatter me, to be honest it isn't too hard for me to write Elizabeth, just because I get to create her story almost as if she is an oc, I just have a few guidelines to help from the very little we hear of her in the books. Young Martin is, I must confess, very fun to write, because I imagine him as just being a shy, studious boy who goes along with Elizabeth on everything because he just adores her. I'm glad you approve of how I went with them.**

 **P.S to everyone: Look out for Claire, she's about to make an appearance because young Martin and Elizabeth have been hogging the spotlight.**


	10. Chapter 10

"How much you wanna bet I can play it with my nose?"

"Play what?" Skye didn't even look up, too immersed in her book to pay attention to Jeffrey and his need to show off.

"How about "Yankee Doodle Dandy"?" Jeffrey waved his harmonica and shoved Skye's legs off his lap so he could settle down better.

"I don't care." Skye finally looked up in irritation at having to find a new, comfortable, position.

"Great, I love your enthusiasm. Prepare to be amazed." Jeffrey held his harmonica up to his nose and began to play the little ditty by inhaling and exhaling through his nose. His success guaranteed him throwing both fists up in the air in celebration, only to lower them in disappointment when he realized Skye hadn't paid the slightest bit of attention to him.

"Oh, c'mon." Jeffrey complained, "Here I am, the most talented person you'll have the pleasure of meeting and you ignore what's right under your nose. Pun intended."

"Poor me." Skye flipped a page, "Guess I blew that opportunity."

"Pun intended?"

"Obviously."

The two best friends were interrupted by a rapping on the window that led to the roof where Jeffery and Skye were sitting.

"Awww man. They found us." Jeffrey slumped as Rosalind hauled up the window.

"Seriously, you two would think it was a funeral not a wedding." Rosalind rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, we figured out that it's a lot less work for the rest of us to have you two out from under our feet."

Skye stopped attempting to figure out the best way to jump off her roof, and let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank God." Then, Skye's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "What are you doing here if you're not going to throw us into work again? I swear, if it's to make me sample one more kind of spinach entrée..."

"Trust us, Rosy. Anything with spinach is a terrible idea at this point." Jeffrey almost gagged in agreement.

"The menu is all set." Rosalind dismissed impatiently, "I'm here to talk about what we discussed about last night, Skye."

"'Discussed' is a very unfitting term. It was more like you wouldn't take no for an answer, and my answer is no."

"So an impasse." Jeffrey defined. The two sisters ignored him.

"I'm not going to-"

"Yes, you are. It's a wedding. MY wedding. You're dancing at least once, Skye." Rosalind ordered. Skye hunched her shoulders and scowled. If she were a cat her ears would have been flat against her head and she would have been hissing.

Jeffrey watched the two oldest Penderwick sisters with interest.

"I don't even care who you dance with. It could be Daddy or Nick. You could chose Hound for all I care, but I'm not going to have you sulking around somewhere or trying to sneak off."

Skye did her best to look offended and as if that idea had never crossed her mind.

"I would never-"

Jeffrey snickered before she could even finish her sentence.

"That terrible?"

"I can see why they didn't let you up on the stage for that play."

"I-I can't dance! Remember?" Skye pointed out desperately, "You guys tried and it just wouldn't click."

"You didn't even take one step." Jeffrey pointed back, "I offered to dance with you, and you pushed Rosie on me instead."

"Maybe, but that still doesn't erase the fact that I don't know a tango from a waltz."

"Seriously? You don't know the difference? They're like complete oppos-"

"Great! Jeffrey, you can teach Skye how to waltz. See problem solved." Rosalind crossed her arms almost triumphantly, "With her paying attention this time, it shouldn't be a problem. It's not like you two aren't always together every second of the day anyways."

"We are hardly-"

"Rosie, I-"

Rosalind wasn't listening, she shut the window with a firm click and sauntered back to her wedding planning.

Jeffrey and Skye gave each other blank looks, and then uncomfortably looked away.

"So..." Jeffrey drew out, "Tonight then? Or maybe tomorrow? Which-"

"Uh, yeah. After supper. I, um... Fine."

"Cool."

...

"Did it work?" Jane grabbed Rosalind eagerly as soon as the oldest Penderwick sister stepped out of the bedroom.

"Perfectly. They were so predictable. Skye couldn't help downplaying how little she knew about dancing, and Jeffrey couldn't resist being horrified and corrective. Just as we planned."

"This'll set them right back on track." Jane rubbed her hands together gleefully, "All they needed was the push. It's perfect."

"That's what you said last time." Rosalind reminded, "I think we need to watch carefully this time. But I do have to admit, it's a start. Maybe they'll finally relax and start talking about it. If not to each other, than maybe one of us."

"Ten dollars it's Jeffrey."

"I'll take those odds." Rosalind considered carefully.

...

"Setting: The dark, gloomy basement of Penderwick manor. Music tinkles in the background. As if the ambience isn't depressing enough a body lies on the floor, Jeffery Tifton's body."

"What the heck are you doing?" Skye still hasn't uncrossed her arms.

"I'm just saying, your choice in a place to practice looks suspiciously like the prime location for my murder." Jeffrey shuddered as he walked into a spiderweb. His writhing made him knock into a stack of old cardboard boxes, "I don't think I've ever really been down here for longer than ten seconds."

"It's the most isolated place in the house right now." Skye pointed out, "Would you prefer teaching me while the rest of my family is watching?"

"I actually don't really-"

"Exactly. Now can we just hurry up and get this over with?"

"Alright, alright." Jeffrey approached her, holding out a hand. Skye took it unwillingly. Jeffrey carefully placed her other hand on his shoulder, and gingerly placed his free hand on her hip. Jeffrey only rocked slowly at first, finding his place in the music, then he took a step to the right.

Skye stepped to the left.

"No. Just follow me." Jeffrey said calmly. Skye got flustered and tried to move with him. She stepped on his toes.

"Sorry!" She sprang back.

"It's fine, you're not going to hurt me." Jeffrey insisted, taking her hand again, "You need to relax. Just let me go through all the moves, don't even listen to the music. We all know you couldn't find a beat if it punched you in the face. Here, I'll count for you, okay? One..two..three. One..two..three. One..two..three."

Jeffrey's counting was soothing and swept Skye along. She couldn't stop stepping on his toes at first, and she threw all her attention down at their feet, no matter how Jeffrey tried to make her look up. Once, when he tried to twirl her gracefully, she smacked him in the face with her free hand.

Jeffrey took each each injury in his stride, as if the music made him serene and untouchable. He did seem in more control and comfortable than he usually did. Skye felt herself gradually slip into stride with him at one point, and she held her breath as they successfully moved around for thirty seconds, until she stepped on his toes again.

"That was good!" Jeffrey pulled back for a second, "You're getting it. C'mon, let's try again and relax just like you were doing. You know you've got it now."

Skye really did have it. It took a couple more tries, but soon she was stepping in time with Jeffrey, trusting him to move them to where they needed to go, and it felt...good. Is that why people danced? It felt as if she and Jeffrey were one person, and being so in tandem felt freeing. Skye would have thought she'd feel restrained, but it was the complete opposite.

Skye could only feel Jeffrey's guiding hands, and the music pulsing through them. Jeffrey couldn't feel anything, he felt numb. They were both warm and sweating, but neither cared or noticed. Their eyes were only on each other. Both were filled with something they couldn't understand. Something that didn't make sense, until Jeffrey twirled Skye and she was pulled back into him. Their eyes made contact once again as they met other, and then they both froze.

Skye's heart pounded. Jeffrey's head whirled. They both broke apart at the same time. No. They couldn't feel that way towards each other. It had to be just the music, all the exercise. Anything but this.

Jeffrey's head and heart told him otherwise. He had been in love with Skye for what felt like forever. He just never dared to put a name on it.

That was the thumping, quivering feeling Skye had gotten every time she was around Jeffrey. Why she enjoyed being around him more than anyone else. The thought that she was constantly and consistently pushing out of her head, because it was pointless, they had tried once and it hadn't worked. Why couldn't Skye shove it out?

Skye mumbled something, excusing herself. She bolted, and Jeffrey let her. He ran his hands over his face, alone in the darkly lit basement. His chest stung, and if he concentrated he could still feel how it felt to hold Skye and dance.

...

"How'd it go!?"

Jeffrey shrieked and collapsed against the basement door. Jane had scared him. He had been intent on lurking off to the room he was sharing with Ben without anyone noticing him, or worse, accidently running into Skye.

"Fine. Fine. It was good. Good." Jeffrey mentally cursed at his inability to speak coherently. Jane's eye had developed a gleam, and he began to feel suspicious that she had jumped him on purpose, just to put him on the spot.

"Uh-huh. So Skye's dancing well? Where is she?" Jane made a show of looking behind Jeffrey towards the basement, even though he had already shut the door.

"I dunno." Jeffrey shrugged, forcing himself into a state of nonchalance. He overdid it.

Jane stared him down, and Jeffrey met her eyes stubbornly. Neither spoke, and the tension was starting to gnaw at Jeffrey's chest. Jane was unusually, deadly silent, and it was terrifying to just stare in those probing, accusing eyes.

"Alright!" Jeffrey crumbled under the pressure, throwing up his hands, "It was...it kind of ended badly. I don't know what's going on. I keep thinking there's something between us, but..."

"But what?" Jane demanded, "It's been two months since you guys went on that date, and it's like you two haven't changed at all. What happened?"

"Nothing..really." Jeffrey sat down heavily, his back against the basement door, " I think we mutually decided it best to just stay friends, but without ever really saying it out loud."

"You think?" Jane was disbelieving, "So you never bothered to ask Skye if that was how she felt?!"

"It just never seemed like the...right time?" Jeffrey excused weakly.

"Did you ask her if she wanted to go on another date?"

"...No."

"Did she make any hints about a second date?"

"...No?"

"What exactly did you guys do on the date?" Jane threw up her hands in frustration, "Stare at the ground the whole time?"

"No, we ate supper, we talked about soccer and school. We talked about the wedding and all that kind of stuff." Jeffrey felt defensive as he crossed his arms.

"So nothing at all about the date you were on at that present moment or even what the date meant for you two?" Jane felt like grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.

"She didn't bring it up; so, I thought she thought it was awkward, and...ugh...You have no idea how nerve-racking it was just to go on a date with her. I kept thinking I was going to mess something up, or like spill food on myself. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable by bringing that kind of stuff up."

"Well what about at the end? When you dropped her off? You didn't even say anything then? What did you do then?"

Jeffrey studied a hole in his sneaker, trying to pretend he hadn't heard Jane's question.

"Jeffrey. What. Did. You. Do?" Jane got a sinking feeling.

"It wasn't entirely my fault." Jeffrey was turning red.

Jane eyes looked determine to drill a hole through his head.

"She went for a hug. I thought she was going for one of her shoulder punches, and it turned into this awkward shuffle, until we just shook hands." Jeffrey rushed through his explanation in one short breath, before burying his face in his knees.

Jane went through a jumble of multiple reactions in the space of ten seconds. Horror, shock, disbelief, dismay, and finally humor. It was all just too grotesque and absurd, she cracked up on the spot and bubbled over with laughter, collapsing on the floor next to Jefffrey.

Jeffrey lifted his head to watch her ruefully. His pride felt wounded, but he didn't blame Jane. He had made a big mess of the whole thing after all. It was all embarrassing, but it was his fault. Or partially so.

"And you two have been pretending the date hasn't happened ever since. As if nothing happened whatsoever."

"What's the point? She obviously hated it, she would have said something otherwise." Jeffrey picked at the fraying cuff of his jeans.

"Really? This is Skye we're talking about." Jane scoffed, "Skye wouldn't dream of being the one to bring it up. She's been waiting on you to say something. Between the two of you, you're the more likely one to bring that kind of discussion up and you know it."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm sick of being the one who always has to initiate the more awkward conversations." Jeffrey scowled sullenly.

"That's understandable, but put yourself in Skye's shoes with the facts that you have. Wouldn't she decide that your silence means that you didn't enjoy yourself? That _you_ decided that you guys were better off as just friends. After all, you were the one who asked her out in the first place. Technically speaking, that kind of makes you the one in charge of broaching the subject."

Jeffrey floundered. Jane's argument made sense. Now that she had cleared his mind-block, it did shed a little more light on Skye's perspective. It was something he should have seen sooner and on his own. Did that-could it mean that Skye maybe did- Could be willing that there be a step up in their relationship? Jeffrey felt his windpipe close.

"Just think about it." Jane patted his shoulder, a little condescending, "I think you can take it from here."

Jeffrey didn't share Jane's confidence.

...

Skye twitched slightly. Her ankle itched.

"Do you take Thomas Jonathan Gieger to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

It was bizarre, so surreal. Sure, Skye had known they were getting married, but now that it was happening...she didn't know what to think. How to feel. Tommy was the greatest, he and Rosalind really did love each other, but still...this was Rosie. Rosie was the oldest, always in charge, and responsible. She was always there. Sure, she was grown up now, but old enough to get married? It was insane.

"Can we have the rings please?"

Skye barely registered Nick stepping forward with the rings. She was twenty herself, Rosy was twenty-two. Jane was nineteen, technically speaking she was old enough to get married. Skye almost snorted out loud at that thought. Nope, Jane wasn't going to get married anytime soon, not if Skye had a say in it.

"You may kiss the bride."

Jeffrey caught Skye's eye, and he made an overly exaggerated grossed out face at her, as Rosalind and Tommy kissed. Skye rolled her eyes at him.

What about Jeffrey though. He was...the same age as her too. Holy...they had been friends for about eight years. When had they grown up, all of them? No, it really wasn't that extreme. Skye still felt almost the same as she had around twelve when she had slammed her head into Jeffrey's. None of them had really grown up that much, especially Jeffrey, Skye noted to herself as Jeffrey stuck his tongue out at her.

"I introduce you for the first time to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas and Rosalind Geiger."

Mrs.

Skye couldn't believe her ears, she regarded Rosalind with new eyes. She didn't look any different, ecstatic maybe. She was smiling at Tommy as if he was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Tommy looked equally sentimental, and Nick was clapping him on the back. Jane was cheering along with the rest of the wedding guests, and Skye cringed as her younger sister let out a particularly loud whoop in her ear.

Then, they had to make their exit. Skye took Nick's arm just like they had practiced at the rehearsal, and they followed Jane and Jeffrey down the aisle, Rosalind and Tommy behind them.

...

Skye had really grown up. Jeffrey mused to himself, watching her stand proudly at the table of honor as she gave a speech. He smiled absent-mindedly, she didn't look like she was going to faint this time. Though, she had been so nervous about this part of her maid of honor duties that she had had him proofread her speech.

"...you've been so incredibly patient with me and Jane and Batty. Daddy too." Skye grinned at her father, and he laughed along with everyone else, "But admittedly, it was probably with me the most, and I just want to let you know how much I appreciate that. I wouldn't be who I am today without you helping me out."

Rosalind was crying, Jane was bawling. Almost everyone was having a hard time keeping their eyes dry. Jeffrey couldn't tear his eyes away from Skye though. She was struggling herself.

"If anyone deserves to be happy, it's you, Rosy. I'm glad you found someone who can do that for you; though, I'll be the first to knock you flat if you don't make my sister happy, Tommy. You know I can too."

Tommy nodded in acquiescence, Rosalind rolled her eyes at Skye.

"To the new couple, I give you my best wishes and love. To Rosalind and Tommy!"

Everyone raised their glasses, Jeffrey started and hurried to follow suit as everyone echoed Skye's last line. He gave her an encouraging thumbs up when she looked his way, and she nodded gratefully but looked away quickly.

...

"No. That's not..Move over." Skye ordered with a groan, pushing Jeffrey aside, "I thought you said you could DJ."

"I didn't have the heart to tell Tommy that just because I can play twelve different instruments, doesn't mean I know how to use sound equipment properly." Jeffrey said sheepishly, "He was already overly-stressed because the guy he asked before bailed on him."

"What's supposed to be playing right now?"

"The bride and groom's song, 'L.O.V.E' by Nat King Cole." Jeffrey read the paper, and watched over Skye's shoulder, "There."

Skye clicked the song that Jeffrey had pointed at, she hurriedly plugged in a few cords and fiddled with some knobs and hit play. She handed Jeffrey the mic as she began to adjust the volume.

"Ladies and Gentleman give the newlyweds a big hand as they share their first ever dance as a married couple." Jeffrey announced. He watched with a smile as Tommy led Rosalind out to the dance floor and they began to slow dance to the mellow tones of one of Jeffrey's favorite artists.

"What are you going to do when I'm not around to save your butt?" Skye scoffed, walking up to stand next to him and punch his shoulder.

"I try not to picture that dark day." Jeffrey said somberly, not daring to look at her. She was wearing her bright blue dress a little too well. It combined with her blonde hair and blue eyes so perfectly, that Jeffrey was having a hard time forcing himself to not stare. They both watched the new couple dancing, Jeffrey felt self-conscious the whole time and very aware that he needed to say something...Just not yet.

"Well, we've got to find someone who can work this equipment" Skye broke into his thoughts, "We're going to be too busy making sure everything runs smoothly and you know..."

"Vandalizing the car?"

"I wouldn't trust anyone else."

They grinned mischievously at each other, and for a moment they were able to slip into their normal comfortable selves.

...

In the end, Skye found a second cousin on Tommy's side who was aspiring to be a DJ. That left the music covered, but as soon as that was done, Ben gathered the wedding party for pictures, and when that was over it was time to cut the cake and then start the dancing back up again. Skye had been running about so much, she felt a little strange standing still at last, watching everyone else dance.

Mr. Penderwick and Iantha were moving slowly and smiling fondly on everyone else bobbing around to the music. Nick was spinning Batty around so much on the floor, Skye felt sick watching them. Jane was dancing with one of Tommy's friends chattering away the whole time. Skye made sure she caught the young man's eye and gave him a warning glare. He held Jane at more of an arm's length after that.

"Wanna dance?" Jeffrey asked, his bow tie askew and out of breath. He had already danced with Aunt Claire, two of Tommy's little cousins, and Skye's grandmother on her mother's side. He leaned in and whispered, "I'm only asking out of show, we should sneak off when no-one's looking and this is the perfect excuse."

Skye gave him a blank look. What was he talking about, sneaking off together? Was he-? Oh. Right. The car.

"In that case. You may have this dance." Skye bowed eloquently. Jeffrey bowed back and took her hand. Skye pushed down the thought of their last dance and followed his lead like they had practiced. Jeffrey moved slowly at first, making sure she remembered what he had shown her, then he picked up the pace, waltzing around with a comfortable ease. Skye once again felt the stirring feeling of being so in tune with another person. With Jeffrey. She was certain that she couldn't have danced like this with anyone else, as if they shared the same thoughts and senses. Inevitably, no matter how hard they both tried, they wound up staring into each other's eyes again. Skye felt the urge to bolt, but an even stronger part wanted to stay. Did she imagine it, or did it seem as if took a large effort on Jeffrey's part to release her?

"It looks clear." He said, still holding her by the hand.

"Let's go." Skye agreed, tugging him along as an excuse to not let go.

...

"You see that?" Jane had dropped Tommy's friend to fraternize with Batty and Rosalind.

"See what?" Tommy looked around clueless. The three sisters ignored him.

"They went outside together." Rosalind looked equally excited, "It's working."

"Knowing Skye and Jeffrey, they could be doing about half a million things that don't involving them actually talking." Batty said skeptically, "Remember when we got separated at the fair, and we thought they were going on the swanboats, but they were actually seeing who could eat the most fried dough and not get sick on the teacups?"

"This is different though. I can feel it." Jane said staunchly.

...

"I call the blue one." Jeffrey snatched the washable marker out of Skye's bag.

"Fine with me." She shrugged taking the remaining green marker, and a roll of toilet paper. Jeffrey seemed excited to just write on a car period; so, Skye just paid attention to the more important aspects of defacing. She scrawled the traditional, "JUST MARRIED" on the back window, and stuck the toilet paper anywhere it would go. When she checked up on Jeffrey, he was just drawing random hearts and cupids all over the hood. He looked proud of his work. Skye sighed and just tossed him a can of silly string.

"Go nuts." She ordered, "Get all the handles, maybe even spray down the seats."

Jeffrey grinned like the five year old he was and saluted with the can of silly string, accidently spraying some in his own face. Skye set to work on one of the final touches, tying some tin cans on the back of Tommy's car.

"I made heart shapes with the silly string!"

"Why?" Skye grunted tightening her last knot. Tommy was going to have to physically cut the cans off of his car.

"...Because why not?"

"Here's a better idea. Coat the whole windshield with that stuff."

Jeffrey spelled out the word 'love' with the silly string, obeying Skye's orders. Then, Skye pulled out a bag of wedding rice and confetti.

"Now we pour all over the windshield wipers, and when Tommy goes to clear off your sappy message..."

"Genius. It'll take them years to clean this mess." Jeffrey nodded appreciatively, he casually slung an arm around Skye as they admired their handiwork. Skye forced herself to make herself reaction-free and blank, and so the pair just beamed at a job well done.

One peaceful moment passed, and then a sinking realization settled in the pit of Skye's stomach.

"Um..Jeffrey?"

"What?"

"Isn't Tommy's car a Suburu?"

They both stared blankly at the Toyota symbol.

"... ... Well sh-"

...

"A whole hour." Jane muttered to Batty as they watched Jeffrey and Skye come striding nonchalantly back in, "Why else would they be out there so long?"

"I don't know...They don't look any different." Batty scrutinized the pair. It was true that Jeffrey was trying way too hard to look innocent, but Skye only looked annoyed about something and she appeared to be scowling all her frustration at Jeffrey. In other words they didn't look any different.

"Fine. You go get Jeffrey to dance with you, and I'll take the opportunity to grill Skye. They'll crack under pressure, or at least Jeffrey will."

Batty nodded in agreement and they split up.

"...yeah well at least I didn't draw a million tiny hearts." Batty thought she heard Skye mutter as she approached her sister and Jeffrey, but she didn't get any more than that because Jeffrey elbowed Skye alerting her to Batty's presence.

"Hey, Jeffrey, mind if I get a chance to dance with you? Skye's been hogging you all night."

"More like he's been bugging me all night."

"Not true, she's been practically begging me to lend her my charming presence." Jeffrey waggled his eyebrows, "And yes, it would be my honor to dance with you Battykins." Jeffrey tugged one of her curls fondly.

Batty wasn't surprised when Jeffrey knew all the steps to 'Single Ladies', or that he was better than any of the girls dancing to it.

"So you and Skye were outside for a long time." Batty couldn't think of an appropriate way of eluding to her mission.

"I love the subtlety, Bats." Jeffrey's eyes crinkled in amusement, not breaking his stride.

"Thank you." Batty tilted her nose in equal sarcasm, "But you're dodging. What were you two doing?"

"What do you think we were doing?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I knew."

"Fair enough." Jeffrey waved his hand along to the tempo, "We were vandalizing Tommy's car."

"Oh." Batty split up in laughter, "I thought you two were acting a little more sneaky than normal. Did you do a good job?"

"A little too good." Jeffrey grimaced, "But in the end, yeah. It looks pretty spectacular."

"Tommy's going to be so annoyed. He really treats that brand new Toyota like it's his baby."

Jeffrey froze and turned a pair of panicked eyes on Batty, "What did you say?"

"Tommy's going to be annoyed?"

"No, the last part. Tommy's car is a Toyota?"

"Yeah, remember? He wouldn't stop showing it off to everyone? And you and Skye were trying to be as disinterested as possible about it just to annoy him?"

Jeffrey ran. He didn't say a word, he just went off in a streak, looking rather on the pale side. Batty watched in confusion as he grabbed Skye's arm and whispered something in her ear. Skye's eyes bulged in horror, her expression identical to Jeffrey's and then the two bolted for the doors, much to Jane's equal confusion and chagrine.

...

"I hate you so much. I hate tiny blue hearts and confetti and rice. And I absolutely, one hundred percent hate silly string." Skye announced in a dismal tone. She looked tired. Jeffrey felt tired, but also kind of warm. The first part was due to a busy day of rushing, dancing, and vigorously cleaning a vandalized car twice. The second feeling was due to the fact that Skye was sitting so close to him, her head on his shoulder. They were the last of wedding, left to pack up all the leftover food and sweep the rice-covered floor. Though, Jeffrey knew Jane's more ulterior motives behind volunteering the pair of them.

"Look on the bright side. You won't have to deal with this again until it's Jane's turn." Jeffrey reminded her with a yawn.

"Or your's." Skye retorted, her eyes still closed. Jeffrey's stomach twisted, and he barely stopped himself from saying stupid.

"Or your's." He pointed back in return.

"Nah, you think so?" Skye opened one eye and looked at him intently.

"More likely than me." He almost shrugged, but stopped himself in time. He didn't want Skye to move her head.

Skye scoffed, "You? Mr. Chivalry and Romance? Plus, being a musician. You're kind of like the leading man stereotype of a chick flick. The stereotypical sweetheart that a million girls gush over."

"Maybe, but I'd have to find someone I like back, and after-. Well, it'd just be pretty hard."

"After what?"

"Hmmm?"

"You were saying after, but then you cut yourself off." Skye played along, though she knew Jeffrey knew what she meant. Jeffrey didn't reply; so, Skye didn't push it. "We should get cleaning. I want to go to bed as soon as I get home." Skye got to her feet, but Jeffrey was slow to follow.

"Hey, Skye?" Jeffrey asked a she handed him a broom. He looked at the broom instead of her, "Why'd you go on that date with me?"

Skye looked at a loss, "Why'd you ask me out on one?"

Jeffrey groaned and rubbed a hand over his face, "Never mind. Let's just drop it, ok-"

"No. Let's get this out in the air; so, we can push it out of the way once and for all." Skye cut him off, "It's been hanging over us for like two months and it keeps coming back as tension. It was a bad date; so, let's just get over it."

"It was bad?" Jeffrey winced.

"Would you say it was good?" Skye demanded, "We both avoided the fact that we were on a date, like it was a plague, we talked about stuff we've already covered a million times over, and to be honest the food wasn't the greatest. Not to mention the handshake at the end."

"Alright, it was bad." Jeffrey sighed, "Sorry, I guess I kind of wrecked that whole chance, huh?"

"What chance?"

"Us going on another date, or-"

"I never said I wouldn't go on another one." Skye reddened.

"Pardon?" Jeffrey said hoarsely after a long pause.

"I thought you were having second thoughts during the date, and that you decided we wouldn't work. You never mentioned anything about a second date, and when I went to hug you. You kind of jerked back. It was kind of clear, you didn't think we were a good idea as more than friends."

"I didn't think it was-?! I was the one who asked you on the date in the first place! And I ducked away because you looked like you were about to punch me! I might not have talked about the date, but may I also point out that you were the one bringing up all those discussions that we had already 'covered a million times over'."

"Because you weren't even looking at me, much less saying anything."

"Yeah, well, it's kind of hard to think of something to say when you're sitting right there across from me on a date of all things. With me! You have no idea how long I wanted that exact thing, but when it actually happened, I couldn't believe it! You weren't actually supposed to say yes, I never planned on you saying yes! It was just something that I knew I had to try or I would die of not knowing for sure."

Skye was taken aback, "I agreed because it felt...right? I don't know, I just keep getting this feeling when I'm with you, like there's something more there? It's-" Skye frowned trying to figure out how to put it into words, "When we're together it just makes sense, even though I can't work out exactly why. You're someone I trust with everything, even stuff I've never told anyone before, but even more you trust me with your stuff too. And it's messed up, because you'd think that that make things twice as hard then when you're on your own. Maybe it is, but it doesn't feel like it when I'm working next to you."

"Like when we're dancing."

"Exactly!" Skye looked at him, thrilled at being understood, but also caught unawares that he had been thinking the same thing.

"It felt like...we were one person, but also two separate people at once. We're a team, but more, because I've never felt so connected and in tune with another person before. I'm messy, I can't stop while I'm ahead, I'm too proud for my own good, and a bit of a stereotype when it comes to chick flick romance male leads. And you can be too stubborn, logical, fiery, you're insanely neat and always so sure of yourself..."

"You know when you said you can't stop when you're ahead?"

"Point is, it doesn't make sense how we combine so easily. It sounds like we should be constantly at each others throats, but instead I think we balance each other out. You bring out this other side of me, and I feel so comfortable and myself with you. Coming from where I grew up and all the constant work at keeping a good relationship with my mother, it's just the most amazing, freeing feeling in the world." Jeffrey took a huge breath and held out his hand, "Skye, you're my best friend and even though our only date together was a huge disaster, I don't think it really mattered other than make me scared that I lost my only chance with you. Would you consider going out steady with me?"

For both of them it appeared as if time was slowly running to a stop. Jeffrey's heart was pounding and his mouth felt dry. Skye knew her answer, it was just terrifying to say out loud. Who knew what would happen as a result? She was horrible in these kind of situations, but she had to meet Jeffrey there. He had already put himself out in the open, she was the one stuck behind. So, Skye gathered everything she had and took her best friend's hand. She felt a sigh of relief run through him and he was busy scanning her face with a hopeful expression.

"Yes." Skye couldn't think of anything else to say, but it didn't matter to Jeffrey. It was the one thing he had wanted to hear, and he didn't waste a second wrapping her up in an enormous hug. Warmth and comfort washed through Skye, and after a long and wearing- but needed- conversation, it felt healing.

Still, she couldn't resist one last barb.

"Oh, so we do actually hug now? I thought handshakes were our thing."

"Laugh all you want." Jeffrey kept his eyes closed and Skye in his arms, "Nothing can get to me right now. I'll get you back later."

"Like to see you try." Skye scoffed.

No matter how she joked though...she wasn't pulling back anytime soon either.

...

[Epilogue] Setting: The following morning. After breakfast. Jeffrey's making his goodbyes.

"See ya, Ben." Jeffrey tousled the sleepy boy's hair, "Batty, don't forget for that Bach piece really lay into that section. You've got three fortes there, and keep the part in A minor nice and crisp with those staccatos."

"I'll have it down pat next time I see you." Batty hugged him.

Iantha came next, "It's always a joy to have you over, Jeffrey. Do try to make your way over here more often."

"I'll do my best." Jeffrey promised hugging her back, before stepping aside to shake Mr. Penderwick's hand next, "Thanks for letting me bunk down here."

"Compared to all the help you gave with the wedding, it means nothing. We would have been lost without you."

Jane tackled him next, sloshing her coffee and almost spilling it on Jeffrey. Skye tactfully pulled it from her hand just in the nick of time.

"Seriously, though Jeffrey." Jane muttered in his ear, "The sooner you get it over with the better. Just talk to her."

"I don't know." Jeffrey said solemnly, "I think I'm just going to let it be, Jane. It's too late."

Jeffrey pulled back before Jane could drag him back into a scolding rant, and he turned to Skye before Jane could see his grin.

"See ya, Jeffrey." Skye said loosely, and punching his shoulder a little harder than usual, because she was overplaying trying to be normal.

"Bye, Skye." Jeffrey swept forward- as if he had done it a million times before- and kissed Skye firmly. When they broke apart, Jeffrey smirked at Skye and poked her on the nose, "Gotcha back."

Skye's eyes widened in horror, as she pieced together the meaning behind his words. Her family was watching the whole thing, and unlike Jeffrey she had no escape. He was out the door, before her family could recover from the shock.

As Jane flung her arms around her in excitement, Skye swore that she was going to kill Jeffrey without a trace of remorse the next time she saw him.

...

 **Dang, it's been like a month and a half since the last update for these oneshots. Hopefully, the length of this one makes up for it slightly.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: I'm glad that you liked the last oneshot so much, it was pretty fun to write. And you quoted one of my favorite scenes too, I'm happy it made you laugh. I always love hearing from you.**

 **OldButYoung: Thanks, I enjoy writing about Martin, because he feels a little under-appreciated sometimes. I love your suggestion. It sounds like a challenge, but I'm definitely going to go for it when the opportunity arises.**

 **GM01: Haha, thanks. Tbh, the scene where Jeffrey was annoying Pearson is almost based entirely on me too. I don't know when to shut my own mouth sometimes, or when it's not a good time for a joke. Thanks for pointing out my mistake, it was a typo; though, I suppose I could also technically blame it on Jeffrey's ignorance of astronomy too. Thanks!**

 **Nijibrush: I really can't help myself, no matter how hard I try to think of something a little different, or just as I'm setting down to write something about someone else, three more Skyffey AU's jump in my head. I have like four running through my head that I want to type out right now; so, I'm glad that you haven't gotten sick of it yet.**

 **Readwriteedit: I'm relieved you liked what I did with your prompt. Reading through your list of reactions made me smile like an idiot. So I've decided to reply to each one.**

 **1). No, thank you for the prompt. I loved writing it immensely,**

 **2). I couldn't help myself with the pen.**

 **3). The beach setting is the cynic, beach-hating side of myself. I was really channeling a similar bad beach experience I had.**

 **4). Though, I've never read Madeline L'Engle, I think I recall you mentioning her in one of your stories. So I'll take the compliment with humble honor. The astrophysics were challenging, but a little fun to study.**

 **5). Yes, but I'll never get tired of you expressing how much you liked the one-shot.**

 **6). I'm sorry in return for taking so long to answer your lovely review.**

 **7). I feel as if Iantha has an abundance of hidden talents that she breaks out nonchalantly at the most astonishing of moments.**

 **8). Thanks. You made my week too :)**


	11. Chapter 11

Aunt Claire watched the messy-haired boy with interest. She had seen him once before, at her brother Martin's wedding, but it had been far too much of a busy day to observe him. He seemed very nice and decent, a surprise. Claire didn't care for boys his age. They were usually loud and rude. At the current moment he and Jane and Skye were fighting for control of the soccerball. Jane and Jeffrey were quick to gang up on Skye, and Claire had to laugh at their antics, especially when Jeffrey tackled Skye just so Jane could steal the ball. Skye was quick to dump the taller boy though, and all he got was a mouthful of sand.

As their two week vacation progressed, Claire watched the three interacting and grew more and more nostalgic, she couldn't understand why though,until it hit her right in the chest as she overheard Jeffrey and Skye arguing.

"You're just being overly paranoid again, Skye." She overheard Jeffrey groan, "You know you sound ridiculous. You can trust Jane."

"Can I?" Skye sounded as if her arms were crossed and was busy glaring, "We're talking about the same girl who came up with the idea of a firegod and sacrificing little pieces of our hair, Jeffrey."

"As I recall, you put some hair in the fire too." Jeffrey reminded cheerfully, "Come on relax. All this OAP stuff is making you grow white hair and stress about the littlest of things."

"I'm not!" Skye protested, "I'm being perfectly rational and stressing just the right amount."

"Right. So watching Batty for signs that she's about blow up or trying to make her wear her lifejacket to bed is completely reasonable."

"Speaking of Batty..." Skye sounded as if she was about to panic.

"She's in her room with Mercedes and Hound, she's fine." Jeffrey assured her, "Come on now, stop worrying about Jane and her lovelorn relationship with the dashing Sir Dominic, and come play some soccer."

Claire didn't hear the two leave, she was too lost in her thoughts, or to be more precise her memories. Skye's and Jeffrey's conversation left her with a twinging bittersweet feeling and rather intense flashbacks.

It made perfect sense now, the trio of friends, Skye, Jeffrey, and Jane...they were like a repeat. A repeat of her, Martin, and Elizabeth. Martin and Elizabeth! Why hadn't she seen it before? They were so alike. All the looks, the teasing, and Skye and Jeffrey. Now that she thought about it, she had always felt a rather strange feeling of understanding towards Jane. She was just like her! Claire closed her eyes with a smile and thought back to a time that seemed so long ago, no matter how many times she had to scold her nieces for calling her old.

...

"Bill?! I told you to stay away from him!"

Claire had known Martin was going to act like this, that's why she had waited until Elizabeth had come over.

"It's not that Bill." Claire rolled her eyes, "That Bill was from History class, this one is from Science. He's a lot nicer and cuter."

Martin's eyes bulged behind his glasses, as if he couldn't believe his ears.

"Oh, is he that boy with the crooked nose that you were talking about." Elizabeth looked up interestedly from her calculus homework.

"Yes." Claire nodded gratefully, "He's brilliant. And handsome. I'm pretty sure I'm in love."

Martin shuddered as if love was a toxic disease. Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him and smiled at Claire.

"I'm sure he's a nice boy, if you like him so much."

"Oh, he really is! We're going to the park together." Claire beamed.

"You can't go to the park with a boy you barel-"

"She'll be fine, Martin." Elizabeth poked him into silence, "It's the middle of the day, the park's always busy around this time."

"As the oldest one here-"

"You're only older than Lizzy by two months." Claire protested.

"And your brother." Martin ignored her, "I at least demand to meet this boy first."

"Why? So you can bore him to death by talking about plants and flowers?" Claire groaned.

"It's Botany." Martin protested.

"Boring." Claire and Elizabeth said in unison.

"Martin. Stop stressing out so much, she'll be fine."

"But-"

"Really, Martin." Claire sighed in exasperation, "You'll understand yourself one day, what it is to fall madly in love and want to die from sorrow when you've not seen your one true love, for a whole day."

"What?!" Martin looked horrified by the thought.

"Elizabeth, tell me you at least know what I mean." Claire pleaded.

Elizabeth looked thrown off by Claire's words.

"Umm..." She looked caught as she looked in a hesitant way between the two Penderwick siblings, "I-I don't- I can't say that I have."

"As adorable as the two of you are with your suppressed feelings for each other, it is about time I left."

"Claire!" Martin and Elizabeth turned red at the same time.

"W-we're just friends." Martin looked strangled, "Best friends."

"Yeah." Elizabeth crossed her arms too, but in Claire's eyes she looked a far sight less certain than Martin.

"Fine. Fine." Claire sighed, throwing her hands up resignedly. They were such idiots, especially her brother. He was at the immature age that love was a ridiculous notion to him. It didn't make sense to him like botany and Latin. Claire had no idea how Elizabeth could stand that much Latin, maybe she ignored it in favor of her books and music. Claire suspicioned that it was love. Elizabeth was a lot more intune with her emotions than the scientific Martin.

Claire loved Elizabeth, she was a lot more understanding than Martin, but she had one fatal flaw. She always put others feelings above her own. Very unselfish, but also not too practical. Martin was far too absent-minded to listen fully, and though he would do anything Elizabeth suggested-as long it was within reason-he wasn't very good at sensing when she had a problem. Elizabeth didn't want to burden anyone, or feel like a load. Claire knew it had something to do with her parents, but Elizabeth didn't talk about her home-life or why she had a hero-complex that made her feel like she had to sacrifice herself for others.

...

"I don't know what to do? What do I do?" Skye clutched her head, "He won't saying anything, and I don't know what he needs or wants from me."

Claire's eyes followed Skye's pacing, nervous form. She was startled by how much Skye looked like her mother, but sounded so much like Martin. Maybe she wasn't as mild as Martin-her mother's fierceness made sure of that-but she was just as confused about working out emotional issues as her father was.

Claire felt somewhat more in control, than when she was younger and her brother had been asking her these same questions. Claire thought back to that situation, trying to see if it could help out in any way.

...

"What do I do?" Martin wrung his hands and fiddled with his glasses. He was pacing a hole in Claire's bedroom carpet. She hated how fidgety and restless he got. "She's quiet. Lizzy of all people! I know I always tease her about not being able to stop chattering, but I really miss it. And she seems so pale, and every now and then she just breaks down and cries."

Martin looked about ready to cry himself, but he was too embarrassed to. "Boys don't cry" he had told Claire more than once.

"I keep asking her what she wants me to do, but she won't tell me! How am I supposed to help her when she won't tell me what she needs! Does she want some space, some alone time to work it out?!"

"Martin, her parents are separating. That last thing she needs is for you to leave her too."

"Then, what do I say to her?!"

...

"Nothing. Don't say anything, unless he talks first. Just go. Go and be there for him, Skye." Jane said firmly, drawing Skye's worried gaze to her. Skye looked like she was barely holding tears back. "You're the strong one remember? Just go and be there next to him; so, you'll be ready for when he needs to get this all off his chest and when he does, just listen. You'll know exactly what to do then."

"What about Alec?"

"Don't mention a word about him or Jeffrey's mom. Let Jeffrey bring it up of his own accord. Now GO!"

Skye bolted for the seawall, her sneakers make low thuds on the deck and then soft patters on the sand.

Claire's heart ached for the broken boy, sitting motionless and looking out to sea. But she knew it was no good, at that present time he wasn't ready to listen to excuses and lengthy explanations. Which was what Alec and his mother would offer. Claire and Jane would feel the need to shower him with affection and would probably break into sobs if they tried. Batty was too young, and to be honest she didn't really completely understand what was going on. Skye was his best friend though, and a strong shoulder to lean on. Her acceptance and readiness to do what was best for Jeffrey made her the one most likely to hold herself together and help him. Because Jeffrey had done the same for her. Maybe he was better at it, but Skye would darn well do her best.

Claire smiled softly but sadly. That was the same reason Martin and Elizabeth had been such a good couple. Elizabeth had tried to distance herself to avoid causing trouble for others, but Martin had been too loyal for that.

Not to say that Jeffrey and Skye were meant for each other, or that they would ever be. That would take time and a certain kind of growing on both their parts. (It'd be hard for them to avoid it if Jane was anything like Claire, and Claire didn't doubt that.). Sometimes the best bonds and cures were friendship. And friendships like Martin and Elizabeth's and Skye and Jeffrey's were a level all their own.

Now, that she was old enough to see it though, Claire knew something else. Every strong relationship needed a Claire or Jane, if not to cause excitement, than to be the one to pull them all together.

"That was the right thing, right?" Jane turned anxiously.

"The best thing." Claire assured her niece, "Come on, let's make some lunch. Jeffrey will be starving after such a draining experience."

"We should make extra for Skye too, otherwise she won't eat at all. She's not going to be leaving Jeffrey's side any time soon."

"Good idea." Claire smiled.

...

 **So, I just re-read "The Penderwicks at Pointe Moutte" and been barraged by a feeling of nostalgia myself and a renewed love for Aunt Claire. Reading it though, I was struck with the strongest feeling that she seemed a lot like what Jane would be when she grew up, just minus all the books. And that kind of fit in with a chapter I have in mind for my Martin saga. This is kind of a build up to it.**

 **Anyway, reading the third installment in this wonderful series I came across several things that I hadn't remembered reading before, and that are too beautiful to not remind everyone else of.**

 **-Skye got kicked out of the Brownie scouts because she refused to wear the hat, and Jane dropped out out of loyalty to Skye.**

 **-Claire's abundance of past boyfriends and how oddly a lot of them had the name Bill.**

 **-Jeffrey was assigned OAP for one afternoon, because Skye tried to hide Aunt Claire's crutches. And he made her run to the store and back twice, run to the inn and back five times, and play two hours of "grueling" soccer.**

 **-And when Turron gave Aunt Claire a puzzle of a dog that looked just like Hoover, and insisted that it was the "only one" the store had left.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: You're "THE BEST. THE BEST. THE BEST, and etc. Ever." I'm glad you didn't see the ending coming, I wanted to surprise the reader just as much as it did Skye and her family. Thanks, I always love hearing from you.**

 **GM01: I'm glad to be back, thanks. And it was equally exciting for me to find your review in my email. I came home from work and it was sitting right there waiting for me, I love it when that happens. The car scene was my favorite part to write too, because I can never resist a dose of humor. And it was like a warm up before I tackled the ending discussion between Skye and Jeffrey.**

 **Nijibrush: One of my favorite parts about the series is all the interactions too. I find it difficult to have more than two people interacting at the same time, but you probably already noticed that. You always know just what to say to put a smile on my face, thanks.**

 **Readwriteedit: Thanks for the ego boost, but I don't think that it was good enough to be canon. Maybe, some day when I've improved a lot more. I'm always delighted that you read my stuff, it means a lot because your own work is an inspiration to me. I can't count how many times I've read all of your stories and wished there was more.**


	12. Chapter 12

Jeffrey Tifton was ranked the sixth most famous person in the world in Life magazine. On their list of most influential people in the world he was tenth. In 'Teen Fad' he was ranked number five on their hottest celebrity list, just under Channing Tatum.

So, yeah, in theory Jeffrey knew why he had a mob of paparazzi chasing him down the street. He appreciated his fans, he really did. If it weren't for them, he and the rest of his band wouldn't be worth swat. But Jeffrey also appreciated the freedom of just being able to go for a walk without being assaulted by overly-adoring teenagers. He had even waited until it was dark out, he was wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap too. Somehow, one teen girl had caught sight of his face as he strode past her and her friends, and her shriek had brought everyone's attention to him.

Hence, the running for his life. Jeffrey wasn't in the mood to have to explain himself and talk to half a dozen over-excited girls. He should have listened to the band's manager, Cagney.

...

Skye didn't love her job, but she didn't despise it either. It was simply a necessity, something she did to pick up some extra cash to help pay her way for school. Night shifts at a tiny convenient store were pretty boring, but the quiet hours were also convenient for studying with only a few interruptions from some people picking up a pack of cigarettes or scratch cards.

Once, a drunk guy had tried to rob the place. That was about the most exciting it had ever gotten, and Skye had laughed at him until he had grown flustered and bought himself a pack of gum instead. He wasn't even the most depressing character she had met there.

So when the store's door had opened and slammed shut with a rather rough jostling of the bell hanging from it, Skye didn't even turn from where she was straightening the camel packs.

The customer didn't get her attention until he vaulted over the counter and crouched on the floor behind it. Even then, Skye was only momentarily startled.

"Hey! Get out of here." She kicked at him.

"Ow! Please? There's a whole bunch of girls chasing me out there. I just need somewhere to hide real quick!" The man fell over, clutching his shin where Skye had kicked him. Soccer had left her pretty experienced at that sort of thing.

"What the-?" Was all Skye had time for, before the door opened again and her small store was swarmed with a whole bunch of teenage girls.

"Where is he?! Is he in here?" They clamored loudly, their words over-spilling each others and reaching a very high volume. Skye glanced briefly down at the prone figure behind the counter with her, and he clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture.

"Who?" Skye asked the girls, "What are you talking about?"

"Jeffrey Tifton! The famous singer!" Skye was barely able to interpret the group of girls.

"Who?" Skye squinted, "Does this look the kind of place anyone of any decent intelligence would visit, let alone anyone famous? In less you guys are in here to buy some of our over-stocked chips, get out of here."

The girls filed out, insisting to one another that he, "Must have run past." or "He gave us the slip." and "Are you sure it was him?".

"Alright. I covered your stupid butt, now you've got some explaining to do." Skye grunted and hauled the boy up by his hood. He was tall and had some impressively messy hair that he had managed to shove under a baseball cap, but Skye wouldn't say he was worth getting frenzied over.

"You sure they're gone?" The boy craned his neck to look carefully out the window, "Do you mind if I just stick around for a couple of minutes? Just until I'm sure they're not around."

"Not unless you're buying something." Skye stood unmoving, her arms crossed. He shrunk and nodding meekly, he stepped around the blonde. This time he walked around the counter instead of vaulting over it. Skye watched him out of the corner of her eye, but all he did was grab two sodas and a bag of sour cream and onion chips.

Skye rang him up like she would any normal customer, aware of the boy's curious gaze.

"$4.23"

The "famous singer" started as if he forgotten that money was traditionally exchanged for goods, and he fumbled as he pulled out his wallet.

"Um...I got no cash so..." He held out his card to Skye. Skye took it and slid it through her machine. He looked nervous and at a loss as to what to say as he stood waiting for his reciept to print out.

"Sign here." Skye told him unphased. He complied, scrawling on the line with big looping letters.

"Well. That proves you're Jeffrey Tifton." Skye remarked, "Still never heard of you though."

Tifton looked shocked and flabberghasted.

"You've...you've never even heard of me?"

She shrugged, "Should I have?"

"I'm the lead singer and keyboardist for Bach's five? We've had six No. 1's on the music charts?" Jeffrey Tifton spluttered in disbelief.

"Oh." Skye nodded in recognition, "You're in that ridiculous boy band that's really popular right now. Huh, my kid sisters listen to you."

"...You don't seem that impressed, or even that put off." The curly-haired boy eyed Skye with astonishment as he opened his bag of chips.

"Should I be?" Skye took a chip from his bag, before turning to stock the wall behind her, "I don't care all that much for music, and certainly not for music like your's."

"Yeah, but I'm famous." Tifton pointed out.

"I never heard of you before tonight." Skye threw back over her shoulder, "Even so, you could be Beethoven resurrected from the dead and I wouldn't be impressed. I don't really go for idolizing and all that."

"Oh, c'mon." Tifton hoisted himself up on the counter casually and gave her a suave, practiced grin. The way he settled himself on the counter, it was like he was posing but unconsciously. "Everybody's got their heroes. I'd definitely freak out if I got to meet Beethoven. Who do you admire, if not for who they are, than for the works they've done?"

"If we're talking works." Skye paused, "Newton, Einstein, and Galileo come to mind."

"So you're a science nerd." The singer said, his mouth full. "Huh, never would have taken you for one."

"How so?"

"You don't look like the quiet, studious type."

"And you don't exactly look like the kind of guy most girls would want to chase after."

"Ouch." Jeffrey Tifton grinned more authentically than his first time. "Fair enough, I suppose. What's your science, Nerd?"

"Astrophysics. What's your music, Beethoven?"

"We play alot of classic jazz and blues. Think Sinatra and all those smooth crooners, but I dabble in a lot of different genres. I like a lot of classical and some old rock and roll."

"As far as I recall, Bach didn't play jazz." Skye raised an eyebrow, "That's kind of a weird band name."

"It flows off the tongue, not too many people have an appreciation for the masters now a days. All they care is that the name is famously associated with music, that's good enough for them. I wanted to go with Jeffrey and the Jets."

Skye gave him a confused look.

"It's an Elton song reference."

"So something obscure that only a music geek would know."

"Hey, I prefer to think of myself as an artist. Not too many people can do what I do you know."

"Thank God. The fewer annoying people the better I always say."

"You're hilarious." Jeffrey made a face at her and threw a chip at her head.

"Careful there, pretty boy. Don't want your face to freeze like that. Your make up artist will have a hard time covering up that ugliness." Skye snarked and then paused, "Not that they did a very good job on you today."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I've been described as having a classically, noble expression and the brow of an artist."

"Fancy words to describe a gangly dork. I can't imagine the stress your agent has to go through when they come up with creative ways to try to make you seem attractive."

"Hey, at least hit me in an area where I can insult you back." Jeffrey replied without thinking and then choked on his chips when he realized what he had implied. "Wait. No! That's not what I-"

"Your little fan squad is back." Skye was grateful for the returning girls. Anything for that awkward slip-up to pass. Jeffrey scrambled back over her side of the counter until the girls passed again.

...

Jeffrey's stomach felt weird, and he didn't think it was just the stale chips-though they truly were awful. He was kind of having a moment of clarity, of insight. Jeffrey was used to having people notice him, to have millions of girls he didn't even know have crushes on him. This here. This was irony or karma or something. He was an idiot, he must be just overanalyzing something. He was probably just thrown back for a moment, because for once here was someone who didn't give a crap for what he did or how much everyone else cared for him.

And yet, his stomach was twisting and every time the girl put him down, his well-practiced cool composure broke. He couldn't trust himself to speak without looking like an idiot in front of her, he couldn't help but wish he wouldn't look like an idiot in front of her.

Jeffrey almost succeeded, but then they were going too fast and he couldn't stop, he had spoken before he had thought. He meant it, sure. She was easily the prettiest girl he had ever seen, but still...

"They're gone." The cashier nudged him with her foot, and he jumped back up and resettled himself on the counter.

"So you got a name?" Jeffrey tried to recover himself. He was posing, this time purposely.

"Why aren't you leaving? You could slip out now." She pointed out.

"I thought I'd keep you company." He shrugged and covered his red face by taking a sip of his soda. "It must get pretty boring in here organizing the candy bars alphabetically."

"Excuse you, that's the highlight of my day." She retorted, "And I do my schoolwork back here too. I've got a rather interesting thesis paper on the components of what makes up a black hole, that I find enjoyable."

"Fascinating, and here I thought you couldn't sound like a bigger nerd." Jeffrey snorted. God, she was incredibly smart and sarcastic. What was wrong with him? Why was finding her every word delightful? "C'mon, what's your name? You know mine."

"Buy something else, and maybe I'll tell you." She crossed her arms stubbornly.

Jeffrey bought a chocolate bar. "So?"

"So what?" The blonde handed him his receipt.

"What's your name? You said you would tell me if I bought something."

"I said I would maybe tell you if you bought something. And I honestly don't feel inclined to give that information to a total stranger." She shot back smoothly and picking up her textbook she began to ignore him with a deep yawn.

"That's not fair." Jeffrey was pretty sure he was pouting, but he didn't care.

"I realize that you probably get everything you want when you ask for it Mr. Entitled, but here in the real world Life isn't exactly fair."

"You conned me into buying a chocolate bar."

"A Mars Bar at that. What kind of idiot buys a Mars Bar instead of a Milky Way or a Snickers?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I must be better than I thought."

"Alright, let's try a new tactic. I'll guess your name and you tell me yes or no." Jeffrey leaned on the counter and took a bite out of his Mars Bar. She was right, he should have gotten the Milky Way.

The girl made a non-committed grunt and flipped a page. Jeffrey took it as a sign that she wasn't totally against his plan.

"Barbara?"

"Oh hey! First try too!" She exclaimed with round eyes.

"Really? Your name is Barbara?" Jeffrey was excited.

"Absolutely not." Her expression melting effortlessly back into it's apathetic state, and her attention drawn back to blackholes.

Jeffrey made a face at her, but she gave no sign that she saw it. "Fine. How about Ariana?"

"Nope."

"Rihanna?"

"Nada"

"Celine?"

"You're just listing the names of famous singers aren't you?"

"Of course. Is your name Celine?"

"No. Not even close." She shook her head.

"I could do this all day." Jeffrey told her.

"Good for you. Guess you can add that to your list of talents, huh?"

"Come on." Jeffrey stooped down so he could rest his chin on her counter. "I told you my name."

"Because you were trying to impress me. Need I remind you that I don't care in the slightest if you're Jeremy Kitten?"

"Jeffrey Tifton."

"Hmm, you should change it. No wonder people don't know who you are, your name is super forgettable."

"You're the only person I've met who doesn't know who I am." Jeffrey protested. "Have you been standing there, calling me Jeremy in your head? I'm insulted and I demand restitution."

"I'm not telling you my name."

"What if I sue you? I'm rich, remember?"

"How are you going to sue me if you don't know my name?" She pointed out.

Jeffrey mock scowled at that and crossed his arms in a sulky manner. "You're mean."

"I've never been more offended in my life." She replied in an unoffended tone. Jeffrey sighed when he realized she was unmovable, but he didn't feel inclined to go outside and show his face again. Besides, this girl was the most interesting person he had met in forever. Well, the most interesting person he had met ever, Jeffrey corrected himself. Maybe this was a waiting game; if so, Jeffrey was determined to outlast her. He could be ten times more annoying and tenacious when he wanted to be. He blamed his mother for that.

Jeffrey plopped down on the floor, and crossing his legs he fell back on his hands just to show her through his posture that he was going to be there for awhile. She didn't even seem to notice. "You're not very busy at this time of night."

"Probably, your ugly mug scaring business away." She hummed.

"Classically, noble expression and the-"

"Brow of an artist. I know I heard you the first time."

"What'll it take for you to tell me who you are?" Jeffrey was lost just staring at her.

"Mmmm, I don't give my names to insincere flirts. They're too fake for me."

"I'm not fake!"

"You're trying to model again right now."

Jeffrey looked down at how he had drawn one knee up to his chest and had rested his left elbow on it. He certainly had an air of casual suaveness. She was right. "Sorry. Bad habit. I've always got the press agents on my back to make me look good."

She half-heartedly raised an eyebrow, but looked more engrossed in highlighting a passage in her book. Jeffrey got to his feet again and approached the counter, doing his best to look more natural and less like he was trying embody James Dean. She looked up expectantly.

"Full sincerity and genuine interest right now." Jeffrey assured her motioning with his hands. "What's your name?"

She scanned his face, looking for any trace of humor or smugness, but it looked like she didn't see any there because she held her hand out to him. "Skye Penderwick."

"Skye?" Jeffrey shook her hand enthusiastically and forced himself to not hold it too long.

"Blue eyes, Blue Skye." She said it like it was a repeated phrase, pointing to her eyes and then the sky outside even though it was black at that moment.

"It's a great name, really suits you and it kind of rolls off the tongue. Skye Penderwick." Jeffrey tried out the name again. "It's really memorable too, better than Jeremy Kitten that's for sure."

Skye laughed slightly at that and Jeffrey felt his face flush and his chest puff in pride. He had made her laugh, and God how he wanted to do that again.

"I don't care that much about being a household name." Skye told him. "I just want to be the person who discovers things and sheds more light on the areas we don't know that well."

"If you can read a book on black-holes as if it's the most interesting story in the world, than I know you'll do all that." Jeffrey agreed. "What would that make you? An astronomist?"

"You're thinking astronomer, but you're pretty close. I'm going to be an astrophysicist, it deals with the more mechanical side behind astronomy. You know, observing the more physical elements of celestial bodies and all the interactions between matter and...and I'm boring you aren't I?" Skye faded out. She looked almost self-conscious and as if she was used to that kind of reaction.

"What? No way! You didn't finish." Jeffrey shook his head and waved her on. "You were saying it was about examining the interactions between matter and-what? You stopped there."

Skye was visibly staring at him with surprise. She almost looked lost, but she shook herself quickly and continued with a slightly more pink face and an eager air. Jeffrey could tell she didn't often get a ready audience, which was a shame. Her passion alone was enough to get him hooked and make what she said the most interesting thing he had ever heard.

"The interactions between matter and radiation." She explained. "You know, basic physics stuff."

It was hardly basic, and Jeffrey knew she was downplaying it. "So you're basically breaking down those basic physic compounds to explain what makes a black-hole then?" He scratched his head and tried his best, "That's what you're working on for your thesis paper, right?"

"Exactly!" Skye looked pleased. "Of course I have to explain how the black-hole works too and its effects, but in essence that's what my paper is going to do."

"It sounds interesting." Jeffrey said sincerely. "Can I read it when you're done?"

Skye was definitely taken aback, to the point where she was looking at him with suspicion. "Why would you want to read a college-level astrophysics report? You're not exactly the scientist type."

"Because you think it's important enough to write about. That's good enough for me, and if you love it so much, it's got to be pretty fascinating. Right?"

"There's going to be a lot of terms that you wouldn't recognize, and it's not like you're going to be around to read it by the time I finish."

"Do you at least have a rough outline?"

"Of course, but-"

"Then tell me about it. I'll stay as long as it takes." Jeffrey settled himself. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

Skye slowly shook her head, but there was a wide smile on her face and Jeffrey's heart sped up. at the sight of it.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into." Skye warned him, and Jeffrey could have laughed incredulously at that. As he and Skye leaned on opposite sides of the counter. As she began to spill scientific facts about the universe, and as he got drawn in more and more. Jeffrey knew Skye was right: he had no idea what he was in for, but he did know one thing for sure.

 _He couldn't wait._

 _..._

 **KoalaLoverABC-123: So happy you liked the last one-shot I wrote. I love Aunt Claire and I really want to write more with her now.**

 **GM01: In answer to your last question: You always make my evening with one of your reviews. I'm glad you liked Claire's point of view, it was fun and surprisingly not too hard to write, she's a really great character and we don't see enough of her in the books.**

 **Nijibrush: Pointe Moutte is definitely my favorite book in the series too! And it was really fun writing a piece that takes place in the book's setting, I'm absolutely going to do more one-shots like that in the future, it forces me to set all the AU's aside and do something that's more challenging.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So I found this great Soulmate AU idea where you and your soulmate are so connected that sometimes you can hear what they're thinking in your head. I've obviously tweaked it a little bit.**

 **...**

Jeffrey first heard the voice in his head when he was five years old, and Churchie was putting him down to nap. One second Jeffrey was starting to nod sleepily, and the next second he heard a voice so clear it was as if it was said aloud.

"If x=y and y=z, then x=z. If x=y and y=z, then x=z...Don't...don't cry, don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. 12x0=0. 12x1=12, 12x2=24, 12x3=36, 12x4=48..."

"12x4=48?" Jeffrey murmured sleepily.

"What's that, Dearie?" Jeffrey dimly heard Churchie's clicking knitting needles stop.

"12x11=132." Jeffrey repeated the voice in his head to his nurse.

"Well...yes it is." Churchie sounded surprised. "How'd you know that, Jeffrey?"

"The voice said it." Jeffrey's eyes were wide, "Didn't you hear it, Churchie?"

Even at such a young age, Jeffrey was struck by Churchie's reaction. She tried to remain calm, but her ball of yarn rolled off her lap and unraveled itself across the floor. It was sky blue yarn, Jeffrey remembered.

"What's the voice saying, Honey?" Churchie's voice was low and shaking.

"It stopped now. Didn't you notice, Churchie?" Jeffrey wondered at how odd Churchie was acting. It wasn't like her at all.

"Of course I did." Churchie assured him and hurried to set her knitting aside and stand. "Lie still and go back to sleep. I'll be right back."

She left without rolling her yarn back up; so, Jeffrey did it for her as best as his clumsy toddler hands could. Just as he finished, the voice came back. It was trembling just as much as before, but continued on all the more stubbornly.

"Everything's fine. Everything will be fine. 22/3=7 remainder 1."

The numbers and all the talk of 'times' and 'divided by' confused Jeffrey greatly, but he understood a distressed voice when he heard it. The girl was sad whoever she was, and it was leading him to feel very distraught himself. Maybe he was just sleepy, but the quivering voice distressed Jeffrey and he began to cry.

"It's alright. It's alright." He tried to tell the girl, but she must not have heard him because she continued to spout confusing numbers and terms Jeffrey couldn't understand.

His mother came running in, Churchie on her heels, and Jeffrey wrapped his arms around his mother's neck gratefully.

Jeffrey wasn't explained until his sixth birthday what the voice was, and let's be real nobody really understands anything so groundbreaking when they're only six. No matter how old they feel. But Jeffrey had begged and pleaded and Churchie had at last given in.

Everyone has a soulmate she told him. Someone they belong with and will end up with eventually.

"Like a friend?" Jeffrey had perked up. "Someone to play with?"

Jeffrey didn't get to go to a kindergarten and play and learn alongside with other children no matter how much he wanted to. Instead, Churchie taught him at home. His mother was going to send him to a private school that year for first grade, but in the meanwhile Jeffrey didn't have anyone his own age to talk to.

"Kind of." His nurse hesitated, "Yes, we'll go with friend. Anyways, there's a bond between soulmates and sometimes we get brief flashes of what our soulmate is thinking. Though, it's very rare for someone as young as you to hear a voice and it's practically unknown of any instances when someone was able to hear such complete ideas. You must have a particularly strong bond."

Jeffrey mulled over this. He pondered what Churchie told him almost daily, even more often he tried his hardest to hear the girl speak again. But he didn't hear anything for quite some time.

...

Skye was eight years old when she began to suspicion that she was going insane. She had retreated to her hiding place in Quigley Forest. The one spot she kept a secret from even her sisters. The spot she had found after her mother had died.

It was a pretty normal day, things had gotten a little too loud in the Penderwick household for Skye's taste and so she had decided to sneak off and read from her Algebra book. She had just delved into polynomial functions when a voice rang out out of nowhere.

"Do.. Re... Me.. Fa.. So..La..Te."

Skye's head jerked up and she glanced around the woods in suspicion. Was there someone watching her? The forest was quiet though and Skye could see no sign of movement. So, where had the voice come from?

Skye puzzled it over for a few moments, but then decided she must have imagined it. Just as she had re-immersed herself in her book, the voice started up again with the same musical chant.

"Do..Re..Me...Fa...So...La...Te...Do..."

Where on earth was it coming from? There was no one else around. Skye took off running. She leaped through Quigley woods, jumping over logs and ducking under low branches. She wished that she would find the quicksand that Nick always warned them about, maybe that would take the voice out of her head. It was definitely in her head, because no matter how hard she ran, the voice still stuck with her.

"Do...Re...Me...Fa..."

"Skye what's wrong?" Mr. Penderwick stood up and brushed some dirt off his pants. He'd been gardening again.

"Nothing." Skye couldn't tell him. He'd think she was crazy. But then the voice renewed itself afresh with the same old phrase and Skye cringed.

"What is it, Blue Skies?" Mr. Pederwick put a hand on her shoulder. Skye looked up at him and felt a surge of comfort now that her father was there.

"Daddy...do-do you hear that voice?"

...

Skye had never felt so irritated and disappointed in the short time she had been alive. The voice in her head was her...soulmate? What did she want with a soulmate? All Skye wanted to do was grow up and be a mathematician, she didn't have time for strange boys who spent their time muttering musical phrases.

Jane was jealous, and even Rosalind looked intrigued. Skye didn't care at all, they could have the dumb old voice for all she cared.

"But it's so romantic!" Jane thrilled, "You get to talk to him whenever you want. You two are meant to be after all."

Where had Jane even learned the word 'romantic'? She was only six for Pete's sake.

"We're not meant to be." Skye scowled at her younger sister, "Daddy even said that there's cases of soulmates who never actually meet, and that it's your choice if you want to be with them or not. Well, I choose not to be with a stupid boy who mumbles complete nonsense."

"Oh, Skye." Rosalind looked at her as if she was naïve and didn't know better. "What about Mommy and Daddy? They were very happy together."

"And look what happened!"

Skye felt horrified by her own outburst, and she fled to her bedroom before she could see her sisters' reactions. If Skye was hoping to find solitude, she certainly didn't get it. Almost as soon as she had thrown herself on her bed, the strange boy began to hum some tune.

"Shut up!" Skye squeezed her eyes shut and thought as hard as she could. Almost as soon as she had thought it, the humming stopped. Had he heard her? Skye felt herself listening as hard as she could. She felt something strongly, a feeling rather then the sound of words. Was it surprise? Was he just as shocked as she had been when she first heard his voice?

After an hour of silence, Skye found herself slowly falling off. Just before she completely drifted asleep, Skye could have sworn she heard the voice again.

"Sorry."

...

As time progressed the bond between Jeffrey and his mysterious "soulmate" grew stronger and he found that the instances that they could hear each other were under circumstances where one of them was focusing really hard on something. He also found that his soulmate really hated it more than he did whenever a song got stuck in his head. Usually, she thought the phrase "Shut up." so hard that it was almost a shout in Jeffrey's head when it finally popped up as a voice.

He thought her random science babble was ten times worse then Destiny's Child on a loop though. Especially, when she was keeping the both of them up at eleven o'clock at night while she mumbled facts about black holes and stars. Or when she was multiplying and dividing exponentially.

"Four to the power of seven, plus x to the power of y divided by..."

Jeffrey had had enough. If she was allowed to keep him up with math, then he was allowed to make a decent retort with music. Jeffrey crept across his bedroom floor, and turned off his air conditioner. There was no way he was going to let other sounds censor his message. Jeffrey wasn't sure if he could send music without words through his thoughts, but he theorized that he could do it if he focused really hard while he played his piano.

He had been practicing a segment from the '1812 Overture' lately. A very loud segment too. Fortunately, his mother slept at the opposite end of the house; so, he shouldn't be caught as long as his door was closed. She was a pretty sound sleeper even if his music could drift all the way to her room.

Jeffrey flexed his fingers and listened. The girl's voice was still there.

"Flip the bottom equation and divide that by the top equation, so..."

Jeffrey inhaled deeply and then brought his hands down on his piano's keys with a thunderous, victorious crash. He singled his mind solely on the music, letting nothing else seep in. The louder he played, he was faintly aware of the girl's voice growing more strained as if she was cringing through his sudden musical interruption.

Jeffrey played harder and the girl thought harder, and it turned into some competition. The girl was shouting now.

"CROSS MULTIPLY."

"I'm not stopping until you do." Jeffrey strained harder.

"X times-times..." She was growing weaker.

Jeffrey layed into the ff segment with all his soul.

"FINE!" She cried out, "If you stop, I'll stop!"

"Thank you." Jeffrey stopped, "Some of us enjoy sleeping."

...

Skye was determined. She eyed the goalie at the end of the field with such ferocity, the girl appeared rather nervous as Skye moved in with the ball. Melissa ran at her with the force of five girls, but Skye moved with a grace that came from thousands of drills and practices. She feinted left and threw off two girls when she kicked the ball over to Jane. Jane nodded. Skye ran down the field towards the goalie as the other girls were distracted with blocking Jane. At the last second, Melissa realized her mistake but she didn't even have time to call out before Jane kicked the ball like she was a kangaroo incarnated.

The ball soared through the air, flying to Skye. She vaguely noticed the crowd standing, but she blocked them out, focusing on the checkered sphere instead. Skye leaped to meet the ball, her feet left the ground as threw herself and twisted mid-air to slam-kick the ball into the net with such power that the goalie dived out of its path, terrified that she was going to get beheaded.

"GOAL!" The crowd cheered insanely. Skye was breathing hard and laughing as her teammates picked her and Jane up and carried the two around.

Above all the noise, Skye heard one clear voice.

"Congratulations." The voice sounded excited for her.

"Thanks." Skye answered, grinning.

...

Jeffrey was thirteen when he felt a sense of rage. He had gotten used to it. It wasn't his rage but his soulmate's more often than not. He was eating ice cream so it couldn't be him who was angry.

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM. I'M GOING TO SMASH HIS SKATEBOARD OVER HIS HEAD INTO MILLION TINY PIECES."

Jeffrey winced and clutched his head at the volume and intensity behind the voice. He had come to terms that his soulmate was an extremely passionate person, but this rage was the strongest he had ever felt from her, he was very tentative in replying.

"What's wrong?"

"THE DISHONORABLE PILE OF COW MANURE."

"Very creative." Jeffrey thought aloud. He always found it easier to get his words across when he said them aloud; though, he had gotten some strange looks for it a couple of times.

His soulmate's thought/rant ran on for near on an hour, and she wouldn't answer Jeffrey's questions; so, he had to assume that she was too angry to hear him. He wondered what had sent over the edge. As far as he could piece from her insults the offender was a boy, he had a skateboard, and there was a baffling mention of a popsicle stick and...fire gods?

"Sorry." His soulmate interrupted his attempts to figure her out, "I had an...incident. Hard to explain."

"Please tell me you didn't kill the boy? Or even maim him?"

"I WISH."

Jeffrey cringed in pain.

"Sorry again." She sounded as if she was trying to control herself, "I'm going through a lot of stress right now, and trying to adjust to a brand new haircut."

If Jeffrey had thought his soulmate was confusing before- what with her constant math equations and her tendency to hyper focus so much during competitions- she was twice a mystery at that moment.

Jeffrey wasn't sure that he even wanted to ask.

...

Skye was in college studying for final exams when "the boy at the other end" began to hyperventilate.

"...and if I can't interpret how to calculate the cosine of an angle in my head, that makes me some kind of idiot. I'm not going to pass my final, I'm going to get every question wrong and look like some idiot. I'm going to flunk everything. I'm going to be kicked out of school in front of everyone. They're going to laugh and I'm going to have to live the rest of my life in a cardboard box. All because I can't figure out how to solve trigonometry functions. What even is a SINE?! How can that be a real word?"

"Right triangles. Its the length of the side opposite the hypotenuse over the hypotenuse. That's how you find your sine."

"...Oh." The voice sounded sheepish. "Sorry. You...um.. you heard all that?"

"Yes. Pretty hard not to hear, you are in my head."

"Heh right. How are you?"

"I'm fine. You sound stressed."

"Yeah, no offense but calculus sucks."

"Agree to disagree. Maybe you should take a break though, you sound like you're hyperventilating."

"Maybe I will. Maybe I'll just kick back and go to one of those wild college parties I'm always hearing about." He answered.

"You don't really sound like a crazy party person."

"Oh?" He sounded amused. "What do I sound like?"

"Someone who stays at home and watched old seventies sitcoms."

"Hey, Full House is a classic!" He was laughing though. "All this coming from the person who was considering illegally trespassing onto a barn roof to stargaze."

"Hey! That was private!" Skye hadn't realized he had heard that. She was struck by a sudden horror. How much had this strange boy overheard?

"You were so obsessed by the idea, that you were the only thing I could hear that whole night." He explained. "Sorry."

"I guess its not really your fault." Skye admitted grudgingly. She had studied and dug for ways to shut your soulmate out, all for naught. Their bond had only grown stronger. "It's not like we have a choice in the matter, huh? Kind of sucks."

There was silence on the other end, and when she got a reply it was rather tentative. "Right, yeah. Not that great. Listen, I should probably get back to calculus, sorry if my thoughts get all panicked again."

"It's fine. Good luck on finals."

...

Skye hadn't wanted to go out at all, much less go to a stupid "Finals are over" college party, but there she was getting dragged around by her roommate. Louise was forcing her to socialize, but these were art and music students. The kind of people she had absolutely nothing in common with, or even the slightest interest in.

"Over here, Skye."

Skye grumbled in complaint as Louise pulled her between two sweaty boys debating loudly over the effect modern Dadaism had on building society.

"Skye, you have to meet Jeffrey! He's an angel on a piano!"

Skye hadn't the slightest inclination to meet an angel, but as she looked the startled boy in the eye, it was as if her pulse had slowed and her normally sharp mind had gone blank. It wasn't that he was cute (He was), it was as if she knew him. She had never felt so connected to someone before.

Then, the voice in her head broke in and brought her back down to earth.

"Oh, God. I don't think I've ever seen someone so beautiful in my life. What do I do? What do I do? What do I-" The boy sounded panicked. Skye felt irritated and stung, she hadn't heard her "soulmate' quite so loud before, and not over some random girl either.

"Skye, this is Jeffrey. Jeffrey, this is Skye. Talk. Get to know each other, I need a drink." Louise left just as abruptly as she had introduced them.

"Um...nice to meet you." Jeffrey's voice sounded eerily familiar. "Sorry, I didn't quite catch your name?"

"Skye." Skye shook his hand and felt like her hand was on fire, which was probably why she blurted out a phrase she had thought she had out grown. "Blue eyes, blue Skye."

The voice in her head cut in, "Oh my God. Even her name is perfect."

"Will you shut up? I'm in the middle of something." Skye had never thought something so hard in her life.

"Sorry." Jeffrey said out loud, shaking his head and looking sheepish.

"It's fine." Skye replied without thinking, "Just try to keep your thoughts to yourself this time."

"That's going to be hard, but I'll try." Jeffrey nodded resolutely.

"Good. I-" Skye froze and her jaw dropped. "Did you just- Are you?"

"What?" He wasn't getting it. It couldn't be him, could it?

"If you can hear this, touch your nose." Skye thought.

"Why?" Jeffrey asked aloud, still not following along.

"Just do it." Skye was sure she was going insane.

"Is there a reason for all this?" Jeffrey cocked half a smile at her, but he touched his nose obediently. "Are you recruiting me for some strange cult? Like the illuminati or something?"

"Um...Jeffrey?" Skye couldn't believe this. Was he that oblivious? "I didn't say that out loud."

"What are you talking about? I heard you clear as-" Jeffrey's eyes widened and he grew silent.

"You okay?" Skye thought her words.

Jeffrey only grew more stricken and his mouth began to open and close. But his thoughts were loud and clear. "No, No. This is way too surreal. That means she's my soulmate? She's way too attractive to be my soulmate!"

"Um...thanks?" Skye was sure her face must have resembled a fire engine.

Jeffrey groaned and buried his face in his hands. "No. God, I didn't mean to think that. Stay out of my head."

"This is too weird." Skye agreed, trying her best to collect herself while keeping her mind blank. "I never thought I'd actually meet you."

"The 'soulmate thing' never clued you in?" Jeffrey sounded stressed, or maybe that was Skye just feeling his strong emotions. That happened sometimes.

"On average there's a group of about twenty-four percent that never actually meet their- Well you know." Skye shoved her hands in her pockets uncomfortably, her shoulders hunched. She wished she were anywhere but there.

"I know. You recite that statistic a lot. For a math geek you seem like you don't really understand your probabilities. You know there was a higher percentage of us actually meeting right?"

"The odds of finding one person out of 7.5 billion was a bit more comforting, yes." Skye scowled.

"That's fate for you." Jeffrey laughed humorlessly and ran both his hands through his hair, tugging it into an even messier state. It was kind of cute, though Skye would never admit-

"I'm cute?!" Jeffrey froze and looked at her with wide eyes.

Skye wanted to sink through the floor, cursing herself for even thinking something like that. "What did we say about staying out of each other's heads?" She tried to block out the scramble of words that Jeffrey was shouting in his own mind.

"I'm sorry." Jeffrey apologized sheepishly, there was a hint of a smile on his face though. There was something about his entire expression- the way he looked at her- that made Skye's chest tighten. "I'm trying, but sometimes your thoughts are really loud. You were practically shouting it."

"I definitely didn't want to know that." Skye moaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Maybe we should just start all over." Jeffrey suggested tentatively. "Do you want to go somewhere quieter and try to work this all out?"

"Yeah, that does sound more appealing. Where?"

"We could always find a barn and climb up onto its roof if you want."

"That was one time, okay? And I didn't actually do it." Skye punched his arm as Jeffrey led the way out. "At least I never wandered into a field with a bull in it."

"THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Jeffrey was shaking with laugher though. "I didn't even realize that you knew about that!"

As they both started recounting various things they had gathered over the years, Skye never felt so understood. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't as bad as she had always thought it was. She began to think for the first time that this bond she and Jeffrey had might just work.

Jeffrey agreed with a cheeky grin that told Skye he was listening.

...

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123: Lol, I'm glad that you liked that last chapter enough to want a sequel. I'll think about it, but I can't promise it anytime soon, because I have a million other ideas I need to work on first. Including, two different multichapter stories now that The Tales of Shadow and Armageddon is pretty much over.**

 **GM01: Yeah, I realize Jeffrey was a bit quieter in the books, but I was trying to write him with a few years of experience dealing with a lot of fame. I felt that he would still be a little anxious, but he would try to hide it with all the techniques that he'd have learned as a world-renown music artist. I'm glad you enjoyed his modeling habits.**

 **Nijibrush: Yeah, I don't think Skye's one to lose it over anyone no matter how famous they are, unless its Neil deGrasse Tyson probably. You always make my day when you admit I made you laugh with one of my stories, it's pretty much my biggest goal in life tbh.**


	14. Chapter 14

Skye set down her last box and collapsed on her small sofa with a tired groan. Moving in by yourself was exhausting, and she was trying her best to work up enough energy to get up and close the door to her apartment. A serial killer could just walk in. Theoretically, he would be able to walk in even if it was closed, because she had broken the cheap lock on her first attempt to unlock it. It was probably bad that she had been able to break in through the window in her bedroom so easily, but Skye wasn't able to afford the other apartments she had looked at. At least not yet she wasn't.

When the scream erupted from the apartment next to her, Skye had been attempting to close her door using the force (Not that she'd ever admit it). Skye leapt to her feet and ran out of her apartment. Maybe that serial killer had decided her neighbor was easier prey. Her neighbor's door flew open as Skye emerged from her own apartment, and the boy stumbled out of his place so hurriedly he crashed into the wall across from his door.

"What's wrong!?" Skye demanded, brandishing the wooden bat she had brought along with her solely for the purpose of fending off serial killers.

"IT'S-IT'S...OH GOD...ITS IN THERE-!" The curly-haired boy ran a panicked hand through his hair and pointed with a trembling finger towards his apartment. "IT TRIED TO KILL ME!"

"What? Where? What is ' _it'?"_ Skye was beginning to wonder if she should have invested her money in something like a taser.

"IT'S-OH GOD! THERE IT IS! IT'S COME FOR ME!" The boy grabbed Skye by the arm and hauled her in front of himself as if she was a human shield. Skye held her bat at the ready, waiting for the mysterious 'boogeyman' that had reduced her neighbor into a quivering mess. Nothing. Then, she lowered her eyes to the ground where the boy was now pointing, and she lowered her bat, feeling like the universe's second biggest idiot (The boy was definitely the first biggest idiot).

"It's a spider." Skye said flatly, watching the tiny arachnid calmly crawl out into the hall.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! KILL IT!" The boy pleaded, still cowering.

Skye yanked her arm out of his grasp in annoyance. "You're freaking out over a common house spider? I thought someone got murdered!"

"He _tried_ to murder me!" Her neighbor jabbed a finger of accusation at the spider, making sure to maintain a proper amount of distance. A proper amount of distance being ten feet down the hall and watching Skye from behind the corner where the hall turned.

"This particular species of spider is far from venomous." Skye shook her head in disgust. "The most it's doing is actually keeping your place free of fruit flies."

"It crawled onto my arm. It was going to crawl into my ears and lay it eggs in there." He shuddered and gagged at the thought.

"Spiders are way too intelligent to do something that idiotic. They're smarter than that when it comes to recreating life."

"Will you stop lecturing me on the positives of having a twitchy-legged creature of evil invading my personal space and just kill it please?"

Skye rolled her eyes, but stepped on the spider obligingly. No way was she going to waste her bat on that. "Are you happy now that I've participated in your quest for carnage?" She asked sarcastically.

"Thank you." Her neighbor sighed and walked back down the hall meekly. "I'm normally not someone to freak out like that, but I loathe spiders with a burning hatred."

"You mean you're terrified of them." Skye corrected, resting her bat across her shoulders carelessly. "I have to admit when I heard a scream coming from next door I wasn't expecting anything less than the zombie apocalypse."

"Next door...You must be my new neighbor." The brunette cocked his head, as he finally really took in what Skye's appearance meant. He held out his hand. "My name's Jeffrey. Judging by the bat, you were looking for a Demogorgon?"

"The way you were screaming? Yes." Skye raised a cool eyebrow, but shook his hand.

"Well you saved my life; so, thanks for that?" Jeffrey chuckled weakly, but his smile was wide.

"No problem." Skye said dryly, way too tired to be in the mood to make friends. "I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spiderkiller." She trudged back to her apartment, making sure to close the door this time.

...

Skye's first day working at the observatory was pretty hard and exhausting. First days were always the worst, but to top that off was all the boxes waiting for her to unpack. Not to mention the apartment had no elevator, which meant she had to climb four flights of stairs. She was in a horrible mood, that only got worse when she saw who was waiting out in the hall next to her door.

"Hey.." Jeffrey waved rather awkwardly.

Skye mumbled something and avoided eye contact. Maybe it would discourage him from saying anything more. Skye was never that lucky though, and she knew that from all the times Hound had chosen her name last for everything.

"Um...so. I know you don't even really know me, and um...you already did this once, but..." Jeffrey's hands were fidgeting anxiously.

"Please just spit it out." Skye groaned. She had a feeling she knew what was coming next.

"There's another spider." Jeffrey sucked in a deep breath. "And it's just sitting there on my counter laughing at me. I know you're probably still annoyed at me for last time...and this was stupid. Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

Skye ignored him and stalked into his apartment, Jeffrey trailed on her heels but made sure to hang back. The spider wasn't hard to notice, it was actually slightly larger than the last one. Skye grabbed a piece of paper off of Jeffrey's table- much to his protest- and scooped up the spider with it. She carried it to his open window and shook it off outside.

"There you go." Skye slammed the piece of paper into Jeffrey's chest, perhaps a little too roughly, but he grabbed it.

"Thanks. I don't think I'll be able to look at the 'Moonlight Sonata' the same way ever again. But thanks." Jeffrey flourished a little dramatically with the paper that looked like it was covered in music notes.

"Just don't make this a habit." Skye shook her head, still rather irritated and her thoughts still filled with work.

"Right." Jeffrey smiled sheepishly.

...

Skye didn't see a sign of Jeffrey for a whole week. Sometimes she'd hear a piano as she walked upstairs, but it always stopped as soon as she closed her apartment door after her. She decided Jeffrey must have learned how to cope with his arachnids. That was until she stumbled down into the laundry room at one in the morning to grab her clothes out of the dryer, and found Jeffrey sitting on one of the washing machines.

Skye stared at Jeffrey, and Jeffrey wincingly returned her eye contact. It was way too early in the morning for Skye to even begin at trying to figure out what he was doing.

"What on earth-"

Jeffery ran a tired hand over his face and wordlessly pointed at the floor below him. It was a spider. Of course. Skye was so tempted to leave the boy to his own devices. Not out of spite, but because this was the third time, and at one in the morning it was kind of funny.

"Sorry to interrupt you two. I'll just grab my clothes, and let you guys be in peace." Skye snickered slightly.

"You're not funny. At all." Jeffrey emphasized with a huffy frown. He couldn't pull an upset face without looking like a toddler for the life of him. The way he had his knees drawn up to his chest didn't help either. "I think you brought the whole spider mafia down on me when you killed that first one."

"And that's my fault? You were the one shrieking 'KILL IT! KILL IT!' as I recall." Skye supplied, turning as if she was going to leave.

"Wait! You're not going to leave me here with this...this...monster are you?" Jeffrey appealed.

"I don't know. It seems like you have this under control. I'm sure you don't need my interference at all. Maybe you two just need to talk this out, make a real connection."

"There is no trying to get through to a cold-blooded killer. Please?" Jeffrey pleaded.

"What's in it for me?" Skye crossed her arms.

"I've got..." Jeffrey rummaged in his pockets. "Two quarters and a piece of lint?"

"Nope."

"I've got this etude in D minor?" He pulled out a very crumpled piece of sheet music.

"Good luck with the spider."

"No, wait. I've got a package of oreos up in my room. Unopened. Kill the spider and their yours." Jeffrey bargained hastily.

"Unopened?"

"Okay, so I ate four of them, but that's still like ninety-five percent of the package left." Jeffrey charmed winningly.

It was a decent deal; so, Skye killed the spider.

She found the package of cookies outside of her door the next day, with a scrawled thank you post-it-note and _five_ oreos missing.

...

One month in, on one of her nights off, Skye discovered the roof. Or rather she discovered that it was as easy to break onto as the rest of the apartment building. She didn't even hesitate to bring her telescope up there the first chance she got, and every night that she didn't have a shift at the observatory was spent up there. She even began leaving her telescope, it was a pain to keep lugging up the stairs. She didn't think anyone else went there, until she had- for the first time in forever- a Tuesday night off.

Skye was tipped off to the intruder's identity before she even opened the door, when she heard a clarinet. Skye would recognize that horrible instrument anywhere, she was still haunted by the music lessons that had been forced on her as a child. Jeffrey played a lot better than she had. _A lot better._

"Sorry." Jeffrey pulled the clarinet out of his mouth in surprise when Skye interrupted him. "I thought you worked Tuesday nights."

"No, it's fine. I just thought nobody else came up here. Do you come here a lot?"

"Every now and then..." Jeffrey shuffled his feet slightly. "That your telescope? I figured it was, when I saw it last week."

"You don't come up here, because I'm up here." Skye realized. "That's why you're up here tonight, you thought I was at work. Sorry, I didn't mean to hog the place."

"No, it's fine." Jeffrey hurried to assure as he backed up towards the door. "It's not like you're here every night and I don't mind sharing. It's not like it was really mine to begin with."

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." Skye blurted before she could stop herself. "And you don't have to always stop your music whenever you hear me get home. Maybe just from like three a.m. to like eleven while I'm asleep, but not the whole time I'm home. I appreciate it, but I don't want you to police your life because you're scared of me or something."

"Who said I was scared of you?" Jeffrey huffed after along pause.

Skye gave him a look over her shoulder as she adjusted her telescope with twitchy fingers, a little embarrassed by her speech.

"Okay, so maybe you're a little intimidating with the whole bat-toting, spider-killing, and impressive scowling aesthetic going on, but I'm not scared of you." Jeffrey crossed his arms.

"I don't scowl." Skye scowled. Jeffrey grinned broadly at that. He did have a nice smile.

"So you're a fan of the whole star-gazing, huh?" Jeffrey sat on the edge of the building. He might have been terrified of spiders, but he appeared to be perfectly comfortable with heights.

"Kind of have to be, I'm an astrophysicist, or an intern to be one."

"Knew it had to be something like that. You kind of have an intelligent, nerdy vibe going on." Jeffrey was disassembling his clarinet and cleaning the pieces.

"And you're obviously a musician."

"Obviously?"

"You've got the whole fragile and sensitive constitution going for you. You practically swoon at the sight of spiders."

"Spiders are skittering demons from the pits of hell." Jeffrey was indignant. "And being slightly nervous around them is a perfectly reasonable response. I am not weak."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Skye drawled. She enjoyed pushing this boy's buttons, the way he flared up was hilarious.

"I'm stronger than you." Jeffrey his voice challenging.

"Alright, let's settle this then." Skye tossed off her hoodie and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt. She settled her elbow on the roof vent and wiggled her hand. "Let's arm wrestle."

"What are you? Some kind of college frat boy?" But Jeffrey sat down across from her and grasped her hand anyway.

Jeffrey won, much to Skye's chagrin. But then he panicked when he put his hand down to stand up and accidently touched a spider web; so, Skye felt that they were even.

...

Two months in, and Skye was in her bedroom setting up the bed for Rosalind and Tommy; so, it was Tommy that answered the door to Jeffrey.

"Did you check out our Instagram pictures?" Rosalind finished telling Skye about her honeymoon.

"A couple of them. You know I don't spend that much time on the internet other than for research. I'm too busy. I saw the ones of you two on the beach, though. It looked nice."

"You need to start updating your social networks." Rosalind told her. "It lets us see what you are up to."

"But I'm not up to any-" Skye looked up as Tommy walked in. "What is it? Is the wifi down again? Sometimes you have to hit the server a couple of times."

"No, just some guy at the door looking for you. He didn't say what he wanted, just jerked his hands around and said to tell you he stopped by."

"What he look like? Old and bald? Was it my landlord?"

"No, he was young and had hair." Tommy was cramming a sandwich into his face.

"Beard?"

"No."

"Must be the guy next door. Wonder if we're making too much noise, I'll be right back."

Jeffrey answered the door as Skye was mid-knock.

"Hey, Tommy said you knocked on my door ten minutes ago?"

"Yeah, um...sorry to interrupt that...It's nothing now, I'm taking care of it." Jeffrey shrugged and looked over his shoulder in distraction. Skye understood immediately.

"It's a spider isn't it?"

"Um..."

Skye pushed her way past him. "Where is it?"

"It's fine, really." Jeffrey protested.

"Oh, please. Knowing you, you're going to let the spider take over your apartment and you'll move out." Skye rolled her eyes.

"I don't want to ruin your date just because I can't handle a stupid bug."

"Spider's are arachnids not bugs. They have eight legs and only two body parts: the cephalothorax and an abod-" Skye finally registered the first part of his sentence. "Wait. Date? What date?"

"You know, the guy who answered your door." Jeffrey gestured with a thumb towards Skye's apartment.

"Tommy? No, thanks." Skye shuddered at the idea. "He's my brother-in-law. He and my sister are staying over for two days, as a stop-over on their way to their new place."

"Oh." Jeffrey looked like he was trying not to smile in relief. Probably because he had been so worried that he had interrupted something for Skye, Skye reasoned to herself. "The spider's there on the piano."

...

Jeffrey was in the hallway, feverishly stomping the floor like a maniac.

"I think it's dead." Skye told him from her doorway, her arms crossed.

Jeffrey leaped and spun around with a hand on his chest, as if Skye had almost given him a heart attack. His face was oddly pale and he looked far more stricken over killing a spider than he should have. There was something deeper going on, Skye sensed.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Jeffrey let out a long breath, trying to collect himself. His words sounded like he had said them between gritted teeth. "Sorry I disturbed you. I was trying to take care of this one myself and I still bothered you, I didn't mean-"

"Hey, it's fine." Skye felt awkward. She wasn't used to situations like this, and she didn't know whether to press Jeffrey or not. Would he think she was being too nosy? "I meant, is everything else okay? You seem..."

"Paranoid? Deranged? Off my rocker?" Jeffrey's laugh sounded high-strung and inauthentic.

"-Stressed." Skye corrected, and even though she knew she was going to regret it, she offered: "Want to talk about it?"

Jeffrey's face softened slightly and he shifted as if about to comply, but then his face hardened again and shook his head firmly. "No, it's-Everything's fine. I don't want to bother you with my problems. I already bug you enough with the spiders and invading your time on the roof."

"You're not invading me on the roof, you barely go up there when I'm up there."

"I don't even know your name." Jeffrey shot back. "You've been killing my spiders for three months now, not getting annoyed with my music, and kicking soccer balls at my head every time I step out into the hall, and I don't even know your-"

"Skye."

"What?" Jeffrey blinked and looked taken-aback.

"My name is Skye." Skye tried to shrug indifferently.

Jeffrey's mouth turned up a smidgen, almost a smile. "Of course it is. Rather fitting since you're always staring up at it."

The irony had never been lost on her, but Jeffrey catching that right away left her pleased.

Skye pushed forward again. "Do you want to talk about it now that we're on a first name basis?"

Jeffrey clearly hesitated.

"I don't mean to pry. If you don't want to, it's okay. We could always kick the soccer ball around the hall again, until the landlord tries to catch us, or we could-"

"Could we go to the roof? I could use some fresh air." Jeffrey blurted out. "I mean if you don't-"

"Sure. Bring that ukulele of yours too if you want."

On the roof- once Skye got him to open up successfully- Jeffrey began to rant about his mother and he couldn't stop. He started with what had happened that day- he had gotten into an argument with her over the phone- and from there he described how they had had issues from when he was just a kid. Skye would see why Jeffrey was always worried that he was bothering her. Not many people had listened to him as a child.

"She just sent me off there. To Pencey. I was shipped there for two years until I was finally able to convince her to stop." Jeffery waved and raved.

"How did you get her to stop?"

"I ran away. I had some stupid idea in my head about going off to Boston, that I'd somehow find my dad there. I don't know what I was thinking. Like he'd want to see me. I'd never heard from the man, I don't know why I fantasized that he'd even want to meet me. Anyway, I ran away and slept under the tomato stand of this man I knew. He brought me back to my mother and was able to get her to listen to me for once. I got to go to a school in Boston, even got to take a few music classes. She was mad when I went off on my own, the second I turned eighteen."

"I don't blame you though, you had it rough."

"It's just...this always happens. I think I'm doing fine, and just when I'm starting to get ahead again. She calls up or walks into my life and finds away to shatter everything. All my plans and all my work. Is it bad that I've tried to break off contact with her?"

"No, it's healthy." Skye assured him. "You need time to recover before you're able to face her, I think."

"Thanks. I needed to hear that." Jeffrey mumbled and ran hands over his tired face. "And I think I needed to talk that all out without anyone trying to fix me for once."

"I get that." Skye cocked her head to show that she understood. "I'm not the most patient person in the world either."

"Yeah, I can hear you yelling at your wifi sometimes." Jeffrey gave a weak smile, barely a fraction of his usual cheeky grin that Skye had grown accustomed to and missed.

"I've been trying to watch Doctor Who and it keeps crashing on me!" Skye scowled. "They're taking it off Netflix soon, and I've got ten episodes of the latest season to catch up on."

"I should have known you watch something like that." Jeffrey snorted. "You're such a nerd."

"Says the person who made a 'Stranger Things' reference the first time I met him."

"Says the person who made a 'Spiderman' reference right after that." Jeffrey mimicked and dodged as Skye tried to punch his shoulder. She didn't make too much of an effort though, his smile was back and that was enough.

...

Skye's whole body felt wracked with pain, and every time she made the slightest adjustment on her couch one of her limbs screamed in response. She had a blanket wrapped around herself, but it was only a matter of time before she got too hot again and would have to shake it off. The flu sucked. She felt too tired to even get up and move to her bed, no matter how much she wanted to. Her head was too light, she felt so dizzy.

Vaguely, she heard a knock on her door and she dimly registered herself calling out to whoever it was. Suddenly, Jeffrey was standing over her and looking worried. He must have said something, because Skye saw his mouth move and heard something through her fog, but she didn't understand his words.

"I'm sick." She said, her tongue feeling large and sluggish.

"I figured that out." Jeffrey frowned and put a hand on her forehead. "You're really burning up."

Jeffrey's hand felt nice and cold on her forehead, but he took it off too soon.

"What?" Skye asked dumbly aware that he had said something again, but suddenly Jeffrey was gone. Skye had begun to wonder if she had imagined him there, when he returned with a facecloth that he dropped on her forehead. Skye felt an almost instant relief, not enough to ease the discomfort completely, but it helped all the same. Jeffrey propped one of her pillows behind her head, and the crick in Skye's neck began to dissolve.

"Here." Jeffrey handed her a glass of water and some ibuprofen. Skye obediently swallowed the pills with a sip of water; though, her hands were trembling so weakly that Jeffrey was quick to take the water from her again. "Try to sleep, I'm going to go make you some soup for when you wake up."

Skye wanted badly to tell him not to go again, but her eye lids were already drooping and she couldn't muster the energy to talk. Her head snuggled against the familiarity of her pillow and she fell asleep.

...

Skye was feeling well enough to sit up the next day and talk to Jeffrey while she ate more of the soup he had gotten her, only because he had promised that she could have chocolate pudding afterwards.

"This your family?" Jeffrey looked over the pictures resting on Skye's desk.

"Yeah. That's my dad and step-mom, Iantha. The older girl there is my sister, Rosalind, that's Jane, and Batty's that short one right there. That's my little step-brother Ben, and Lydia's the youngest." Skye said, swallowing the lump she had learned awhile ago was homesickness.

"I always wanted some siblings." Jeffrey murmured, not like he was sorry for himself. But just as a conversational point.

"Is this your Mom?" Jeffrey held up the picture that was by itself. "You look just like her."

"Yeah." Skye's face dropped like it always did whenever her mother was mentioned.

"Divorce?" Jeffrey winced at her expression.

"Cancer." Skye corrected, staring down at her soup.

"Sorry." Jeffrey sat down across from her. "I didn't mean to bring up something that-"

"It's fine. It was years ago, when I was six." Skye cut him off. "It could be worse."

Jeffrey caught her meaning, and lowered his gaze thoughtfully. He didn't speak for the longest time, but when he did, it was slowly. "You mean like never knowing my father. Don't you? You think that's worse?"

"Well...isn't it?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. I think learning to love someone only to have them leave so soon, is probably worse." He corrected. "Maybe it's the same amount of pain, but just a different kind."

Skye finished her soup and pondered Jeffrey's words with care as he took the bowl away from her and put it in the sink. His clattering around the kitchen filled in the silence comfortably. That was the way with Jeffrey. Every time Skye was around him, they somehow slipped seamlessly into something like a friendship that was ten years old, instead of only five months. It was nice.

"How'd that interview on Friday go?"

"Good? I don't know exactly, they haven't called me back yet. I'm hoping that's not a bad sign, but there were a lot of applicants; so, I don't exactly have my hopes up high." Jeffrey called back over his shoulder, as he puttered around washing her dishes. "It'd be nice, though, after only being an assistant for two years to have my own music class and the professor did recommend me."

"That should give you an edge." Skye hummed absently as her mind wandered. When exactly did Jeffrey become the biggest fixture in her life, and why hadn't she noticed it sooner?

...

With Jeffrey's busy schedule teaching, and Skye's job responsibilities picking up- because she graduated to a full-time paid position- they didn't get to see much of each other. Even their weekends weren't completely free, because Jeffrey had to work on planning and correcting homework, and fielding emails from his students. So, Skye was surprised when Jeffrey burst into her apartment on her day off.

"Jeffrey? Don't you have to work today?"

"Spring vacation." He panted, leaning against her door with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" Skye was used to him walking in all the time now, but not without a knock first, and definitely not like he had Satan on his heels.

"I've made the biggest mistake of my life. It's so big, and I didn't want to do it at first, but I couldn't say no, because he's the dean. I thought I could handle it, I've gotten better and-"

"Slow down." Skye wasn't sure she could laugh or if the situation demanded seriousness. "Start from the beginning. What happened?"

"My school's dean was going on vacation, and he had no-one to look after his _very large_ pet tarantula."

Skye's mouth dropped slightly. " _You_ of all people offered to watch one of the biggest species of spiders?"

"YOU KNOW I CAN'T SAY NO!" Jeffrey practically wailed, he was all fidgety. He always got really twitchy after running into a spider.

"Calm down." Skye was laughing now. "Relax, just bring it over here and I'll take care of it."

"That's the thing!" Jeffrey was practically tearing his hair out. "I can't!"

"Do you want me to go get it then?"

"You don't understand!"

"Because you're making it exceptionally hard to do so."

"The spider's name is Houdini!"

"So-Oh." Skye's eyes widened. "Jeffrey. Don't tell me it escaped."

Jeffrey winced. "It did. I don't know where it went, and I'm terrified that it's going to leap out of nowhere and chew my face off. I couldn't stay a second longer in there."

Skye laughed herself weak.

...

After an hour scouring Jeffrey's apartment- he only agreed to accompany her when they left his door open, just in case they needed to make a quick escape- Skye had to agree the tarantula was gone. Jeffrey swore vehemently that the tarantula was only hiding and waiting for him when Skye wasn't around; so, she let him stay in her apartment until Houdini decided to get himself caught in the trap they had set for it.

"Why do they actively seek _me_ out?" Jeffrey demanded mid-way through their 'Star Wars' marathon.

"Like attracts like, I suppose." Skye tried to ignore how close they were sitting next to each other on her tiny couch. Jeffrey's hand was almost touching hers. "You've got the long sprawling limbs, and you do twitch a lot."

"I hate you." Jeffrey huffed and crossed his arms. He was pouting.

"I know." Skye grinned. On screen, Han Solo echoed her words as he was being lowered into the carbonite pit.

Jeffrey lowered his hands again, and he and Skye jumped when his landed on hers. Their eyes met, and after a tensed moment Jeffrey jerked back and leaped to his feet. "I'm going to grab the cookies. Do you want anything?"

"Could you grab me a drink from the fridge?" Skye had to clear her throat. Jeffrey nodded and walked into her kitchen as fast as he could without running.

Skye tried to focus on the movie as best as she could, but her mind wouldn't stop running in another direction. She couldn't get the sensation of Jeffrey's hand on hers out of her head, and she wanted to slam her head in the wall. They were just friends. They were just friends. They were-

Jeffrey's scream ripped through her apartment, and Skye once again found her reflexes forcing her to grab her bat on the way into the kitchen.

"Where is it?" Skye asked.

Jeffrey had vaulted onto her counter. "RIGHT THERE! HOW COULD YOU MISS IT! IT'S GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Skye looked down, and the next second she was joining Jeffrey up on the counter and trying to draw her feet up as far as possible. "THAT THING'S HUGE!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET IT!" Jeffrey protested, even though he was holding onto her arm for dear life.

"Why do I have to get it?!" Skye demanded her eyes following the impressively large tarantula.

"You're the one who's supposed to protect me from spiders!" Jeffrey insisted burying his face into her shoulder.

"Yeah, spiders. Not some freakin' mutant creature with pincers that could take one of my fingers!" Skye held her bat out uselessly toward the large arachnid.

"What are we going to do then?" Jeffrey asked helplessly. "Are we just going to sit up here and starve to death?"

"We're going to have get past it somehow." Skye reasoned. "We'll get to your apartment, get his tank, and then lure him into it somehow."

"That's a terrible plan. He's right in front of the door."

"Hey, who's fault is this in the first place? He wouldn't be in here if you hadn't agreed to watch him. We could be watching movies and eating junk food right now if you weren't such a nice person."

"Fine, but you go first because you've got the bat." Jeffrey nudged her. Skye crouched on her counter, poised to make the first move as soon as the tarantula turned around.

"It's literally got eyes all over its head." Jeffrey read her mind. "I think it's going to see you no matter which way it's facing."

"Alright, but if you stay on the counter instead of backing me up, I will kill you before the tarantula does." Skye leaped over the tarantula and into the next room, stumbling over her own feet at the end. Jeffrey landed with a thump behind her, right on her heels. They both made a break for his apartment and grabbed his tank.

Skye was grateful that the spider hadn't hid itself again when they got back to her place, until she realized something. "Um...how are we going to get him in the tank again?"

"I'm not touching him!" Jeffrey threw up his hands and took a step back. "Maybe he'll feel homesick and just crawl back in the same way he got out?"

Skye gave him a look. "Would you just crawl back in there if you were him?"

"I don't know! I'm not evil incarnated." Jeffrey shrugged hopelessly. "Maybe we can cut off one of our fingers and lure him back into the tank with the scent of fresh blood."

"You need to stop panicking."

"I'm not panicking! You're panicking!" Jeffrey hissed back.

"Yes, you are. You always ramble a whole bunch of nonsense when ever you get the slightest bit anxious."

"At least I don't yell at-"

"Look, we're going to get nowhere with this conversation." Skye took a deep breath. "We need to focus on the problem at hand."

"We're not going to have any hands left, if that monster gets us." muttered Jeffrey, but he shut up when Skye shot a glare at him.

In the end, Jeffrey managed to borrow a fishing net from the bearded Harrison that lived in the other apartment on their floor, and Skye was able to scoop the tarantula up and then quickly dump it in the tank. Jeffrey pounced with the tank screen before Houdini could even make an attempt to jump out, and they duct taped it down so he couldn't escape a second time.

"That was the most terrifying thing I've ever done!" Jeffrey whooped and swept Skye up into a congratulatory hug that left her feet dangling above the ground. "You were brilliant!"

"Thanks." Skye felt breathless. "You weren't bad yourself."

Jeffrey set her down gently, as if Skye was something breakable. His smile was the widest she had ever seen, a welcome change from all the stress she had seen crossing it lately. It was that stupid, idiotic grin that made her stomach twist, and annoyed her because she was way too old for crushes. Besides they were just friends. Just friends. Just...

"Are you alright?" Jeffrey cocked his head in confusion. Even bewilderment looked good on him.

Skye wanted to tear her eyes away, but she couldn't. She wanted to assure him that everything was fine, and punch his shoulder just like she always did whenever she was at a loss around him. But she couldn't. Not when he was looking at her like that. Instead, she found herself closing the distance between them and doing something she had wanted to do since that time she had arm-wrestled Jeffrey on the roof.

Skye kissed Jeffrey. Or at least she tried to, but because her eyes were closed and she moved with such a jerk, she missed and kissed his nose. Skye pulled back with an annoyingly high-pitched sound of embarrassment and ran a hand over her face, afraid to look Jeffrey in the eye. Then, Jeffrey made a strangled wheezing sound and Skye couldn't not look at him. There was a wide range of conflicting emotions crossing his face. Shock. Disbelief. Awe. He touched his nose gingerly.

"You just kissed me." Jeffrey informed Skye, as if she had somehow missed that fact.

"Um..." Skye couldn't think of a single thing to say no matter how hard she tried, and the silence stretched painfully. Skye was good at a lot of things. Killing spiders, understanding rocket-science level calculus, and memorizing every fact about the night sky that existed. Heck, she could recite pi up to it's 35th digit. She was not good at feeling like her heart was going to implode in her chest every time she saw Jeffrey. "I...uh..."

Jeffrey didn't even seem to notice that she couldn't think what to tell him, he was still struggling on his own. "You kissed me. You kissed _me?!_ "

"It's not a big deal?" Skye tried weakly.

"Not a big deal?!" Jeffrey was on a full blown freak out. Full blown-running-his-hands-through-his-hair-and-rambling freak out. "Not a big deal?! I've only had a crush on you from the first time I met you, but oh that's not a big deal. I've only been hopelessly head over heels for you since you told me your name, but I guess that's not a big deal either. I've only wanted to kiss you every time you-"

Skye couldn't contain herself anymore, she grabbed Jeffrey's face with both hands to make sure she didn't miss this time and kissed him squarely on the mouth. Jeffrey stood as stiff as a board for a second, but when Skye moved to pull back he settled his hands lightly on her hips and leaned forward to return the kiss.

Skye pulled back first, and watched Jeffrey's eyes flutter open. "Um...I kissed you." It was intended as a gentle jab, but it sounded way too much like Skye was trying to convince herself of the fact.

"Yeah. You did." Jeffrey breathed. They were both lost in the moment, not quite sure what to say or do. The grin was slowly returning to Jeffrey's face and it was making Skye's own mouth widen with an insanely large smile of her own. He needed to smile more, but as soon as she thought that, Jeffrey's face darkened once again. He reluctantly tore his gaze from her and grimly eyed the tarantula in the tank.

"So...what are we supposed to do with that... _thing?"_

Skye blinked and brought herself back to reality too, "It's not staying in my apartment." Skye read his mind, and Jeffrey wrinkled his nose in disappointment.

"I can't live in the same space as him!" Jeffrey clasped his hands together pleadingly. "He's twice as angry now, and probably out for revenge!"

He was being ridiculous, but even Skye grew uneasy whenever she looked at the arachnid. It's eyes _were_ really unsettling. She wasn't even sure she would be able to sleep thinking about how easily the tarantula had creeped its way over into her apartment, and that gave her an idea.

"Why don't we camp out on the roof? It's warm enough now, and he can't get us up there if we leave him in your apartment with his lid still on." Skye suggested.

"What just you and me under the stars?" Jeffrey wiggled his eyebrows ridiculously at her. "Sounds romantic. Are you trying to seduce me?"

"If so, it's technically worked hasn't it?" Skye crossed her arms defiantly. "According to you, you fell head over heels for me, just from me telling you my name."

Jeffrey reddened and opened his mouth to protest weakly, but Skye cut him off with a quick peck on the lips. He blinked rapidly, trying to recollect himself. "That's not fair. You-you can't just keep throwing me off like that by kissing me!"

He didn't complain when Skye pressed forward again though.

* * *

 **Let's face it, what we really want to know when we look at relationships is which one kills the spiders and which one freaks out over them.**

 **KoalaLoverABC-123: Trust me, you never make me feel pressured. I enjoyed writing that chapter just as much as you did reading it. The soulmate idea was a thing I'd toyed with for quite awhile, and I might be tempted to attempt another one again since everyone liked it so much.**

 **GM01: Thanks, and no, you're the awesome one. I'm glad you liked the concept.**

 **Readwriteedit: You flatter me so much. I'm glad you liked the chapter so much, that you broke your sabbatical from fanfiction just to review it. You made me squeal in delight.**

 **Nijibrush: You bring the Jane in me out, every time you update you're own story so fair's fair I suppose. The fact that I got you musing makes me incredibly proud and delirious with giddiness.**


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